Delta Halo
by Cossacks250
Summary: The war between the Covenant and humanity is reaching It's height. The Covenant have discovered the long hidden location of Earth. When they attack, the fate of the human race in this battle will once again lie in the hands of their last hope. Some OC's.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wall.E or the Halo series.**

**Date: April 17th, 2552.**

**Location: Charon, near Pluto.**

The darkness of space was filled with the trillions of stars that lit it up. What was also lit up space were the lights of the spaceports, military stations and UNSC ships that travelled around Charon. This one small world had been colonized shortly after the discovery of the second Sol. But everyone feared that it would also be the first target for mankind's enemy.

That enemy was the Covenant. A coalition of alien races formed under one banner to destroy mankind. They were made up of Grunts, known as Unggoy, Jackals, known as Kig-Yar, Elites, known as Sangheili, and Hunters, known as Mgalekgolo. The war between humanity and the Covenant had been raging for just over a year. But in that one year, all of the planets humanity had colonized in the second Sol had been destroyed.

The Covenant had a major advantage against humanity. Not because it had many more troops or more powerful weapons for It's troops, no. It was because the Covenant had a special tactic called glassing. When they would come across an enemy planet, they would destroy the defences before firing beams of high plasma energy from their ships down onto the surface of the planet turning It's surface into a mineral called Lechatelierite, which is similar to glass, rendering it uninhabitable. The Covenant used this method on many planets colonized by humanity.

Humanity needed help in the war against the Covenant, so they began making special bodysuits to aid them in the war against the Covenant. However, the Covenant had launched an attack on Reach, destroying It's surface using the glassing technology. That attack also wiped out the entire taskforce. Only one member survived, but no one in the UNSC had heard from that member or anyone from the ship she was on since it fled Reach. The UNSC commanders believed that the last taskforce member was dead and were already thinking how long the rest of humanity had until it was as well.

Today was like any normal day for Charon and It's inhabitants, except for the captain and crew of a UNSC ship

From the surface of Charon, a large shape flew up into space. It was a large ship with the front half pointed like a diamond and the rear half ending in the shape of a large rectangular block. There were four large engines sticking out of the back of the ship. Along both sides were several large square shaped holes. Half-way down the ship, sticking out forwards on a small spire-like section of the ship, was the bridge. It was circle shaped on the front and was square on the back. The inside of the bridge had a large metal door on the back wall. The bridge had windows along the sides and the front. There was a long metal walkway that went over a circle shaped hole in the middle of the bridge. In the circle shaped section were workers on computers going over the speed of the ship, It's weapons, engines and distance to target. In fact, the ship's target was Earth. Captain Walker of the _Apocalypso_, the UNSC ship, was standing at the front window, looking out at the stars. The ship needed to get to Earth as quickly as he could. His crew had only arrived at Charon earlier that morning for repairs to the ship's engines. Why had they?

The day before, the _Apocalypso _was going through space to spy on any Covenant fleets when a large fragment of an asteroid fell into their hanger. Workers and researchers on the ship went through the rock until they uncovered a small triangle pyramid base object the size of a human hand. It was glowing a white/bright blue colour. No one knew what this thing was so they were going to take it to Earth to research it. However, on the way, the engines suddenly lost all power for a few seconds and fire broke out when the captain ordered backup to be restored to the engines to keep them going, which is why the _Apocalypso_ had to land on Charon.

As the ship flew through space, captain Walker sighed and turned to walk down the walkway towards a large computer panel a few metres in front of the bridge's door. He was a tall man about thirty four years old and was wearing a high ranking UNSC captain's uniform. He had been in the UNSC for fifteen years. He started off as an engineer and gradually worked up through the ranks to becoming a bridge worker. He became a captain when the _Apocalypso_ was engaged in a battle with a Covenant CCS battle cruiser over Takra. When the captain had been killed by Covenant borders, he took control of the situation and managed to save the crew of the ship and several hundred workers and civilians. He was promoted to captain as a reward for his bravery.

Around the computer panel were several workers. One of them was keeping an eye on the object that was being held in a lab a few floors below the ship's bridge. Apparently, when the engines lost all power, the object's energy level rose high for a few seconds until it went down back It's normal level. Captain Walker approached the computer panel.

"Is the ship alright?" he asked a worker on one of the computer panels.

"Yes, sir," the worker replied turning to look at the captain. "Nothing wrong with the engines and the object's energy level is still in the safe zone."

"That's good," Walker replied. "Okay, I'm just going to contact Lord Hood and let him know we're coming,"

Captain Walker walked up to a communications computer screen. He typed in a code and waited for the signal to reach Earth.

**Cairo orbital defence platform**

Earth. The home of humanity. Even when humans began colonizing other planets, Earth was still looked upon as the home world for the human species. It still had It's rainforests, seas and mountain ranges scattered across It's surface. That was on It's surface. In space just above the planet, there were sign of human presence.

That sign were the Orbital Defence Platforms scattered through space above the planet. They were mainly named after cities since that was where much of them were constructed and because they hovered over those cities.

The platforms had a large flat octagon-like shaped platform, with several bulges along it that indicated they were bridges and hangers, with a tall rectangular shaped pillar, which was the MAC gun, sticking out from the top of several large platforms connected together to the octagon platform. There was also another rectangular shaped pillar sticking out from the bottom of the platforms connected to the octagon platform. From the left side of the octagon platform were two large pincer-like sections that held a docking bay in place. The docking bay was for UNSC frigates and stealth ships.

One of the main orbital defence platforms was the Cairo. Construction of the platform began in 2348 and it took six years to complete. Orbital defence platforms are a major role in the defence of Earth because they have large MAC guns that can used to fire on Covenant ships. Orbital defence platforms were also in clusters. The Cairo's cluster was, other than the station itself, the Athens and the Malta. They were tasked with defending the eastern half of the Mediterranean if the Covenant attacked Earth.

In one of the bulges, on the right side of the MAC gun, a man, that looked to be in his late fifties/early sixties and wearing a white high ranking UNSC navy uniform with two medals pinned to side of the man's uniform's chest, walked out of a corridor into the Cairo station's bridge. The bridge had a tall platform at the end of it sticking up from the floor. It had holographic computer screens along the top of a control panel which had several workers on it, who were also dressed in white uniforms. Behind that platform was another, that was also sticking up from the floor but was slightly shorter, that also had holographic screens along the top of a control panel. There were several workers on this control panel as well. There were several other doors leading out into other corridors. There were windows along the top and sides of the bridge, which showed anyone inside them a clear view of space.

The man walked into the bridge towards the smallest of the two walkways. His name was Lord Terrance Hood. He was the captain of the Cairo Orbital Defence station and one of the main leaders of the UNSC. He had joined the UNSC in 2530 and had worked through the ranks of the UNSC. When war broke out between the Covenant and humanity in 2551, Hood was given command of Delta fleet, made up of four frigates, six heavy battle cruisers and two stealth ships. He had also aided in defending Takra and Lupo when the Covenant launched their offensive against the human colonized planets. He was appointed commander in chief of the UNSC defence forces on Earth in early 2552 as a reward for his bravery and help against the Covenant.

Lord Hood walked up onto the platform and approached the control panel where a group of workers were.

"Everything going alright?" Hood asked.

One of the workers turned to look at Hood.

"Yes, sir," the worker replied. "And I'm glad you've come here, There's someone hear wanting to speak to you,"

"Thank you," Hood replied.

Hood walked up to the control panel. He rested a hand on a scanning device. A light blue haze came out of the top of the control panel. It formed a square shape. Then, a man's face appeared on screen. It was captain Walker.

_"Good to see you, Lord Hood,"_ Walker said, giving a salute.

"You too, Walker," Hood replied. "Why have you contacted us? Have you spotted a Covenant fleet?"

Walker shook his head.

_"No, sir,"_ Walker replied. _"We have this strange object on board the ship. It's disabled out engines once by draining their power for a few seconds before the engines went back to normal. We're coming back to Earth to see if we can find out what this thing is,"_

"Roger that," Hood replied. "How long will you be?"

_"Probably two hours, maybe one,"_ Walker replied.

"Okay," Hood said. "We'll see you when you get here,"

_"Sir,"_ Walker replied as the blue haze disappeared from the control panel.


	2. The Heretic

Halo. Once a mighty ring world built by a race called the Forerunners to contain a terrible species and prevent it from spreading. It was also built to destroy all life in the galaxy in case the species it was built to contain managed to escape. However, when the UNSC ship the Axiom landed on Halo with an army of Covenant troops chasing them, the task force member and an A.I sided with a monitor of Halo and the two detonated the Axiom's fusion reactors. The resulting explosion tore apart Halo, literally breaking it into sections. The task force member and the A.I escaped but the monitor was not as lucky and was killed.

Halo remains still remained in space where they had been one world just days ago. Now, the remains were strewn thousands of miles apart from each other. Some the size of a small island whilst other were the size of an entire continent. They were still burning away, even after two days. It was as if Halo had committed a crime of untold proportions and had been forced to suffer the consequences for eternity.

Then, a large shape flew past Halo's remains. The shape was a large ship that was over ten thousand feet long and was coloured silver over almost all of it. The ship was split into two sections The front was curved and had a thin black line, with lights and hangers and windows inside it, looked like a hover on top of the front of a teaspoon. rear section looked like a hawk with a trapezium-like shaped head and had two huge wing-like sections either side of the front of the rear section's 'head'. At the back of the rear section were four large exhaust silos. It was a Covenant assault carrier.

As the Covenant assault carrier flew through space away from Halo, another large shape was visible ahead of it. However, it was much different.

The top of the large object was circle, like the top of a planet. However, half-way down the object, the circle ended. Instead, coming out from the centre and the sides of the object were long metal spires that stuck down from the middle of the inside of the circle. It was hard to imagine that a long time ago, this object was actually a planet. The Covenant had not attacked or destroyed this place because it a human colonized planet. This place was the Covenant home world. It was known as _High Charity_. Flying in front of _High Charity_ were hundreds, if not, thousands of Covenant ships. Both assault carriers and CCS battle cruisers. The ships were there because a certain leader was in the high council of High Charity talking with the leaders of the Covenant in the council hall.

The council hall was long and wide. It had a large circular platform on the floor at the end hovering about a foot off of the floor. There were four large thin wraith front-like pillars in the middle of the room, two on each side and they were directly opposite each other. The two pillars on either side were separated by about a five metre long wall. The wraith-like front pillars had doors on the front of them that led into small corridors. At the back of the room was a large door. Between the pillars was a slope-like platform, held in place by the pillars, that had a line of seats going up four.

Sitting in those seats were the bulky figures of the Elites, these Elites had silver armour on and they had some kind of crowns that looked like energy swords and so they were called council Elites which is the highest rank for an Elite, on one side and a strange race of aliens on the other.

In the middle of the room was an Elite in gold armour, known as a zealot. On the platform at the front of the hall were two aliens sitting in some kind of anti-gravity throne chairs. There was a third, but it was a holographic image of another of the aliens.

These aliens looked much like the aliens sitting opposite the Elites. They had pale brown coloured skin, except for the alien on the far left as It's skin was pale grey colour, large heads, which had what looked like their brains sticking out of the back but had layers of skin going over it, small eyes with long hairy eyelashes, dark coloured skin around their eyes, short and thin beard-like flab's of skin hanging down from their chins and long thin slender necks that joined onto the rest of their body. Much of their body was covered up by clothing which looked to be made up out of silk or some type of cloth. It was mostly dark red/dark purple coloured. They had normal human length arms with two long fingers and a thumb on each hand. They were each wearing a large gold crown These were known as the Prophets to the Covenant. Humanity had come across only one of these aliens before their original species name was called San 'Shyuum.

"There was only one ship," 'Vadamee standing before the prophets said.

"One? Are you sure, Thel 'Vadamee?" the holographic image of a prophet asked.

"Yes, Holy Prophet Regret" 'Vadamee replied. "They called it, the Axiom."

The Elites and San Shyuum councillors began to mutter amongst themselves. After a few seconds, the prophet with grey skin, called Mercy, raised a hand, silencing the two groups of councillors.

"Why was it not destroyed, with the rest of their fleet?" the prophet asked.

"It fled, as we set fire to their planet," 'Vadamee said.

**Begin Flashback**

_Thel Vadamee is standing on the bridge of one of the assault carriers, looking down at Reach as it is glassed. He spots a large shape fly up from the planet into space. It was the Axiom. The ship flies off into the darkness of space. _

_"But I followed with all the ships in my command," 'Vadamee continued._

**End Flashback**

"When you first saw Halo, were you blinded by It's majesty?" Regret asked the Elite.

"Blinded?" 'Vadamee asked, not understanding what the prophet Regret meant.

"Paralysed? Dumbstruck?" Regret suggested.

"No," 'Vadamee answered.

"Yet, the humans were able to evade your ships, land on the Sacred Ring and desecrate it with their filthy footsteps!" Regret said angrily to the Elite.

"Noble hierarchs," 'Vadamee said, in a panicked tone. "Surely you must know that once the parasite…"

The Elite was cut off by a sudden outbreak of chatter amongst the council members. 'Vadamee looked at the San 'Shyuum's side of the hall and then the Elite's side. They had looks of anger on their faces and many of them were indicated at 'Vadamee.

Mercy pounded a fist on the side of his anti-gravity throne, silencing some of the councillors

"There will be able order in this council!" he barked.

All of a sudden, like someone flicking a switch, the muttering in the hall ceased. The reason; the prophet in between Mercy and the holographic image of Regret hovered forward on his anti-gravity throne. This prophet's name was Truth, the leader of the council and the Covenant.

"You were right to focus your attention on the Flood, 'Vadamee," Truth said. "But what of this task force soldier the humans called Eve?"

"The demon," 'Vadamee whispered.

The Covenant nicknamed Eve the demon because she destroyed the Sacred Ring, which, to them, is something only a being of evil would do.

"What of this… ,how you put it, demon?" Truth asked.

**Begin Flashback**

_Thel 'Vadamee was on the bridge of his assault carrier, which was far from Halo but he could still see it clearly. He looked on with disbelief as Halo's bottom inner surface exploded. Then the shockwave swept through the ring and shattered it into It's large chunks._

_'Vadamee shook his head in disbelief. He had let himself down, the fleet down, but worst of all, he had let the Covenant down. _

_"By the time I learned of the demon's intent, there was nothing I could do," 'Vadamee said._

**End Flashback**

'Vadamee had caused an uproar on the San Shyuum side of the hall. They were all standing up and shouting insults at him. The Elite's side of the hall muttered among themselves, also most likely insults about 'Vadamee. Whilst all this was going on, the door at the back of the hall opened up. Three large aliens walked in.

There were two aliens walking either side behind a large alien in front of them. The large alien in front of them had white/grey skin with some kind of strap going across It's chest. It had feet like an elephant's and skin that looked like a rhino's. It's muscles were huge. This creature looked like it could bend thick iron bars or tear a man in half. The creature had short face with a patch of grey hair coming out It's head. It had sharp teeth and orange eyes. In the creature's right hand was a long thin and knobbly spire that had some kind of cube shaped object at the top of it. Coming out of the corners of the cube-shaped object were sharp points. The other two aliens were much like the alien in front of them. They also had large muscles, sharp teeth and rhino-like skin and feet like an elephants. However, their skin was a dark brown colour and they had some kind of helmet over the tops of their so you could only just see their eyes. These three aliens were what the UNSC called Jiralhanae. The troops called them Brutes.

The Brute at the front walked through the hall, It's two soldiers right behind it. The grey Brute was called Tartarus. He was the chieftain of the Brutes in the Covenant. As he and his two Brutes walked further into the hall, 'Vadamee turned and looked at Tartarus. Tartarus chuckled slightly as he walked pat where 'Vadamee was standing.

"It's looks like our little fleet commander is in trouble," he said to his two Brutes, who chuckled in reply.

The two Brutes broke away from Tartarus and went to guard the two doors nearest the prophets whilst Tartarus stood near the platform.

Regret's holographic form moved his head near Truth's.

"Noble Prophet of Truth," he whispered. "This has gone on long enough. Make and example of this bungler. The council demands it."

Truth rose a hand, silencing Regret's holographic form. He then turned back to 'Vadamee.

"You are one of our most treasured instruments," he said to 'Vadamee. "Long have you led your fleet with honour and distinction. But your inability to safeguard Halo…was a colossal failure."

One of the San Shyuum on the San Shyuum side of the hall stood and raised a fist.

"Nay, it was heresy!" he shouted.

The councillors began to mutter amongst themselves again. 'Vadamee looked back and forth between the San Shyuum side and then Elites' side of the hall. Tartarus looked around also and let out a low chuckle.

"Looks like our treasured instrument is old and broken," he thought.

'Vadamee growled. He was not going to be treated like this, even by the prophets.

"I will continue my campaign against the humans!" he said sternly.

"No!" Truth replied in a stern voice. "You will not,"

Truth glanced at Tartarus. Tartarus nodded and barked a command. The other Brutes walked forward and grabbed 'Vadamee's arms. However, he shook them and turned to leave. He knew where he was going. To his punishment. The two Brutes and Tartarus escorted him out of the hall. Just before they reached the hall door, Truth spoke once again.

"Soon the Great Journey shall begin," he said. "But when it does, the weight of your heresy will stay at your feet. And you shall be left behind,"

The Brutes led 'Vadamee out of the hall. They turned left down a corridor. As they walked down the corridor, Tartarus spoke.

"It seems you have lost your usefulness to the high prophets," he said to 'Vadamee.

"If you expect me to run back in there on my knees and beg for my position back, then you are greatly mistaken," 'Vadamee replied.

Tartarus growled.

"Well at least I am not a heretic," he said to 'Vadamee. "After your inability to safeguard the Sacred Ring, I'll be very surprised if they do not want us to throw you off on a dead planet and leave you to rot,"

"Why don't we just throw him onto the human home world?" one of the Brutes next to 'Vadamee suggested. "They'll probably do something with him,"

"Yes," Tartarus replied. "And that is drag him back to their cesspool and worship him as a God,"

The Brutes laughed loudly as they turned right into a smaller corridor. 'Vadamee growled. He hated Tartarus as much as he hated the Brutes. The Elites and the Brutes were not the best of friends. In fact they truly loathed each other and how the prophets managed to get them to stay in the Covenant really was a mystery.

The four reached the end of the corridor. Another door opened as they approached it. The four walked forward into another room. This room was much smaller than the council hall. It had a large barricade-like object in front of the door. Behind it was a flat floor until it went into a slope before it went into a flat surface again. At the other end of the room was another barricade in front of another door. Along both sides of the room were several small pillars that had holographic symbols floating on them.

Tartarus and his Brutes led 'Vadamee around the barricade and down the room towards the barricade at the other end of the room. When they reached it, they walked around this barricade and through another door which opened for them as they approached it.

The four were revealed with a long silver pathway that led from the door to a ledge about sixty feet ahead. The path went into a small slope before going straight as it met with the other two floors, either side of it, which rose up about two feet, making the path look like some kind of trench. There were two tall and wide pillars on each side of the pathway. Gathered along both sides of the pathway were Grunts, Jackals and Hunters. They all looked at 'Vadamee as he passed with Tartarus and the Brutes. They began to mutter amongst themselves. Some of them even began shouting insults and calling 'Vadamee names.

'Vadamee groaned as he walked down the path towards the ledge. He was a fleet commander for Forerunner's sake. He had commanded many fleets against the humans and had even managed to prevent the Flood from overrunning his fleet when the parasite launched It's attacks around the ring. Now he was being showered with insults and names by those who were once loyal to him. But in their eyes, he was no longer loyal. To them he was a fool and a heretic.

'Vadamee walked down the flat path in front of the slope. Along both sides of the path, at the front of the crowds, were groups of Grunts. They muttered amongst themselves as 'Vadamee walked past.

"Heretic! Heretic!" one group of Grunts chanted as 'Vadamee walked past.

The Brutes led 'Vadamee down to the ledge. When they reached it, 'Vadamee saw several C shaped walkways come out from two towers connected to two other ledges, one either side of the ledge he was at. On those walkways were Grunts, Jackals and Hunters. They were several hundred feet below him. Far below him, which also extended across the surface of the inside of this planet was some kind of city. It was huge! Bigger than anything 'Vadamee had seen when he was on his ships. Right in the middle of the city was a tall triangle/diamond shaped building that must have stood about a mile tall. It was coloured chrome and had three legs in the shape of a triangle extend down from the sides to the surface of the planet. A tall spire stuck out from the centre of the building and extended upwards high into the air.

Tartarus chuckled as he looked down at the C shaped walkways. Whilst he was doing this, his two Brutes placed 'Vadamee's hands into floating cuffs which held Vadamee's hands up near his two shoulders and kept them there with a light blue haze, which was some kind of lock.

"You've drawn quite a crowd," Tartarus said to 'Vadamee gleefully.

"If they came to hear me beg, they will be disappointed," 'Vadamee replied bitterly.

"Are you sure?" Tartarus asked him.

The crowd broke into a loud cheer. 'Vadamee looked around him. He suddenly felt extreme pain on his hands. He glanced at them and saw the cuffs light up. The light was really hot. It began burning 'Vadamee's hands. Then, like a wildfire, the pain swept down 'Vadamee's arms and into his body. 'Vadamee growled in pain and even began to shake uncontrollably. The pain was like a fire. 'Vadamee felt it burning through his skin. He could imagine himself bursting into flames and being left there to burn to crisp whilst those who were once loyal to him cheered as he burned.

Finally, after a few long moments, the pain stopped. 'Vadamee gasped in relief. The pain had also drained most of his energy. He was really weak. He felt like he would collapse onto the floor, but he had to stay standing up. If he collapsed then he was showing those once loyal to him that he was a weak leader.

Tartarus chuckled and turned to face the crowds on the walkways.

"This is the punishment the heretic deserves!" he shouted to the crowds. "There can be no greater heresy! Let him be an example to all who would break our Covenant!"

The crowd of Covenant let out another cheer. Tartarus turned and barked and order. The two Brutes walked over to 'Vadamee, who's armour was now almost completely black because of the floating cuffs. He looked like he had just come out of some dreadful wildfire. The Brutes grabbed the armour and began pulling. First the armour on the arms came off. Then, the legs, then the chest and back before one of the Brutes grabbed the helmet. He thrust it off Vadamee's head and threw it onto the pathway floor.

The cuffs hovered up several feet, causing a now naked 'Vadamee to hover there in midair. The pain from the cuff's fire had drained pretty much all of his strength. 'Vadamee found it very hard to love his arms or legs, let alone lift his head.

Then, a circle hole opened in the floor. A long thin brown/dark green spire rose out of the hole. It was about seven feet long. The top of the spire ended in a sharp point. The bottom was what looked like an open mouth of an Elite. It had four mandible-like ends coming out of the corners. The centre of the hole was a bright orange/yellow colour. Tartarus grabbed it and walked towards 'Vadamee.

"It is time you paid the price for your heresy!" he growled.

Tartarus thrust the back of the spire onto 'Vadamee's chest. Vadamee felt the pain sweep through him like water on rock. He fought it. He fought it with every ounce of strength he had left. But it was too great it was too horrible. He could not stand it anymore. 'Vadamee let out a scream that caused his mandibles to open as wide as they could. He just wanted the pain to stop. He could not take it anymore.

Finally, after a few seconds but what seemed like hours to 'Vadamee, Tartarus took the back of the spire off of 'Vadamee's chest. There was a dark black mark on the centre of his chest where the spire had been placed. 'Vadamee breathed heavily. He mustered the last of his strength for one more look at Tartarus. Finally, he could not keep his eyes open anymore and he passed out into uncertainty.


	3. She's alive!

**Location: several hundred miles above Mars**

The _Apocalypso_ flew through space over Mars. Captain Walker was determined to get to Earth and find out what the hell this object was. Although, they were going slower because the object had drained a bit of energy from the engines again when they were over Io. Luckily, the crew were able to send backup power to the engines just in time before another fire could break out.

On the bridge, Captain Walker was standing at the window, looking out at the stars. He was admiring their beauty. No wonder this job was so popular.

Then, his eyes rested on a ball far out in space ahead of the ship. After a few seconds, he could see blue with large landmasses covering parts of the planet. Captain Walker smiled. It was Earth.

"There she is, boys," he said. "We're coming home,"

Some of the workers on the bridge began to mutter happily when they saw Earth. They felt like they were coming out of an old and ruined life and making a new start. They were happy they were going back to Earth.

Whilst all this was going on, a worker on the computer panel near the bridge's door was going over the ship's engine schematics on a holographic screen. Suddenly, a small red light lit up on his screen. The screen turned changed from the engine schematics to a bar that ran across the screen. Above it in red letters were the words Engine malfunction. Power level dropping. The bar was a quarter full. The level in the bar was red, and it was rising fast.

"Uh oh," the worker said, knowing exactly what was going on.

The worker stood up and turned to face the other end of the bridge.

"Captain!" he shouted, causing the captain and pretty much everyone else in the bridge to face him. "You better come see this,"

Captain Walker ran down the walkway to the computer panel. The worker sat back down in his seat and showed the captain what had just come up on his holographic screen. Captain Walker went wide-eyed when he saw the bar level rise.

"Oh no," he said. "Is it the object?"

"I'll check, sir," the worker replied.

The worker pressed a button in front of him on the computer panel. The screen changed from the bar level to a picture of the object in the lab. It too had a bar with an energy level near it and it was also rising.

"The object's taking the engines' power again," the worker said. "Jesus," Walker breathed. "Get the ship on full alert,"

The worker nodded and pulled a switch on the computer panel. A speaker came out of the computer panel. The worker stood up so his lips were near the speaker.

"Attention crew of the _Apocalypso_," he said, causing his voice to ring out through the ship's built in intercom. "We have another power drop in the engines. Prepare for emergency protocol."

The crew around the ship sprang to life. Everyone was rushing around either heading to a seat to strap themselves in, just in case the ship crashed, or heading to the engines in case a fire broke out there again.

The worker and captain Walker looked back at the holographic screen. The object on the screen was beginning to spin. It started off slow, then the spinning got faster and faster. In just a few seconds, the object was a blur because it was spinning so fast.

An alarm suddenly blared out throughout the ship. The bridge went red because of emergency lights that lit up.

"Warning!" A computer voice said. "Engine power level critical. Divert extra power to engines,"

The worker typed in a code on the computer panel. The image of the object on the holographic screen went away. It was replaced with an image of the engine room's bar again. However, this time there was another bar below it. Above it were the words Power reserve level. The power reserve level was also dropping as well.

"Everybody strap in!" captain Walker shouted across the bridge.

Everyone on the bridge ran to a seat, if they were not sitting in one. There was a button under each seat. Captain Walker pressed the button. Straps shot out of the sides of the seat and crossed each other before going over the person's shoulders and sticking to the back of the seat.

Captain Walker sat up as far as he could so his lips were near the speaker.

_"Attention crew of the Apocalypso,"_ he announced. _"Please strap in. The ship is in danger of crashing,"_

Another alarm cut him off. This time, the holographic screen changed to a picture of the engines. Smoke was rising from one of them. Then, fire broke out on the engine. Then another engine was set alight, followed by another, and another.

The _Apocalypso's_ engines exploded. The ship began to tilt forward. Suddenly, the ship went into a dive. It was heading straight for the moon.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" captain Walker's voice echoed throughout the ship's built in intercom.

CRASH! The _Apocalypso_ crashed onto the surface of the moon. The engines were torn apart and thrown off as if they were made of paper. The front of the ship bent upwards, causing the windows on and part of the front of the bridge to break apart. Finally, the ship came to rest, leaning on It's left side slightly.

Metallic shades lowered over the windows, protecting the crew inside the bridge and stopping them from dying from lack of oxygen. Captain Walker lifted himself up from the floor. He had a cut on the side on the side of his head from where he had been throw from his seat to the floor. He gazed around the bridge. The walkway that had once stretched across the circle hole in the bridge was now gone. Several computer panels were scattered across the bridge's floor and several chairs, and many of them still had their occupants on them, were strewn across the bridge. Captain Walker looked at the worker next to him. He was still strapped to his chair. The worker groaned as he lifted his head up from the computer panel. He also had a cut on his head and his arm was broken having been bent sideways in the crash. The worker used his other hand to un-strap himself. When he had freed himself from his seat, he stood up and staggered over towards the circle hole. Several other workers were doing the same.

Captain Walker pulled himself up to the control panel and typed in a code. The holographic screen appeared again. Thank God the computer panel is still working. he thought.

Captain Walker typed in a code on the computer panel. Several sparks flew from a smashed screen several inches above him. After a few seconds, the holographic screen had a man's face on it. It was Lord Terrance Hood.

"This is Terrance Hood," Hood said. "Identify yourself,"

"Commander," Walker said. "It's captain Walker."

Hood looked at Walker and saw the cut on his head.

"What happened?" Hood asked.

"The object we found," Walker replied. "It drained our engines power again. We used the reserve power, but it drained that as well. A fire then broke out and the ship malfunctioned. We've crashed on the moon. Unknown casualties,"

"I'll send in two transport ships," Hood said.

"Thank you," Walker said.

Cairo defence platform station

Hood walked over to a nearby fleet commander going over some information on a data pad.

"Commander Jackson," he said, causing the man to look up at him.

"Yes, sir?" fleet commander Jackson asked.

"We need you to send your two transport ships to the moon," Hood said. "Try and rescue whatever's left of the _Apocalypso's_ crew."

"Yes, sir," Jackson replied, nodding.

"Commander Hood!" a worker on the nearby control panel.

Hood ran over to the control panel.

"What is it?" he asked the worker.

"We've got a strong energy reading up in space." the worker replied. "It's also near the moon,"

"Look!" another worker exclaimed, pointing out through the bridge's top window into space.

Everyone in the bridge looked out into space where the worker was pointing. A large white circle appeared in space near the moon. At first, it just hung there like a balloon. Then, a large object flew out of the circle.

The object was curved at the front. Also at the front, but on the bottom, of the object were two spires that faced towards the back of the ship. The top half of the ship carried on backwards in a long cylinder-like shape. Half-way down the ship, and sticking out on both sides, were two large curved wing-like sections that were completely joined to the ship. Along the sides of these sections of the ship were large square holes which marked hangers. At the back of he object were several large engine silo's. Everyone who was seeing this object knew it very well. They could tell what it was by just taking one look at it. It was a Covenant CCS battle cruiser.

"Get the MAC on that cruiser!" Hood ordered.

A frenzy of activity broke out on the bridge in just a mere second. Workers were rushing everywhere to get to their stations to fire the MAC gun at the Covenant battle cruiser. Lord Hood looked up at the cruiser. This was bad for Earth. If that Covenant ship escaped to wherever the rest of their fleet was, then Earth would be wiped off of the face of the universe. The Covenant did not know where Earth was, but that did not mean they were not going to give up on trying to find out where Earth was.

Hood looked up at the window on the bridge's ceiling. A large light could be seen on the side of the MAC cannon. It was charging to fire on the Covenant CCS battle cruiser. The station shook slightly, almost throwing some of the workers in the bridge to the floor, as it leaned forward towards the Covenant ship. Hood looked back up at the MAC cannon. The light was brighter than it was moments earlier. Then, it turned green. The cannon was ready to fire.

"Lord Hood!" a nearby worker on the control panel exclaimed. "The Covenant ship is going into slip-space rupture,"

Hood looked back out into space at the Covenant battle cruiser. The worker was right. A large white circle had appeared in space several hundred kilometres. It was going to make a jump away from Earth!

"Fire the cannon!" Hood ordered.

"This is bridge to MAC cannon control," a nearby worker said into a speaker. "Prepare to fire on Covenant CCS battle cruiser,"

"Roger that," a voice replied. "Cannon will fire in six…five…four…three…two…one,"

The station shook wildly, throwing Hood and most of the workers to the bridge floor, as the MAC cannon fired a shot at the Covenant CCS battle cruiser. The crew in the orbital defence platform's bridge watched the shot soar through space towards It's target. They prayed it would hit. They prayed it would destroy the ship before it had a chance to escape through the slip-space rupture hole.

No. The shot missed. Just when it looked like the Covenant ship was doomed, it had made it into the slip-space rupture hole. It then disappeared just as the shot was about to hit. The shot exploded right where the hole had been just mere milliseconds earlier.

"No," Hood said quietly.

Defeat swept through him and the rest of the crew on the bridge. They felt like people who had fought so hard to achieve their goal and just when it seemed that they were going to win what they wanted, they had failed at the very last minute and were thrown right back where they started.

"What are we going to do?" a nearby worker asked. "The Covenant will surely send a fleet to Earth,"

"Prepare all defences," Hood ordered. "Every planet in this Sol is to be made into a fortress. We need to hold out against any attack the Covenant throw at us,"

"Sir!" another nearby worker shouted. "We've picked up an object heading from where the hole straight towards the station,"

"Is it Covenant?" Hood asked.

"Unknown, sir," the worker replied. "It's heading straight for the main hanger!"

Hood ran up to the control panel and pressed a small button. A small hole opened up near the edge of the control panel. A speaker rose up out of the hole. It stopped near Hood's lips.

"Attention," he said, causing his voice to travel through the platform's built in intercom. "We have an unidentified object heading towards the main hanger. It may be Covenant. All unarmed personal evacuate the main hanger immediately. Any armed personal near the main hanger go there now,"

**Cairo station main hanger**

The Cairo station main hanger was a large square shape about one hundred and fifty feet long and one hundred and twenty feet in width. There was a large door at the front which led out into space. On both the left and the right walls of the hanger was a large blast door that led into a corridor. There were two other doors on the floor that led down some steps that led into a corridor that went underneath the main corridor straight to the armoury. Inside the hanger was a parked pelican, which was near the back of the hanger.

The two doors on the side walls of the hanger opened up. A squad of seven soldiers armed with battle rifles ran out from the corridors into the hanger. They raised their weapon and aimed at the door at the front of the hanger.

"I see it!" one of the soldiers exclaimed, pointing out into space.

The soldier was right. A large object was just visible from the hanger. The soldiers could see it was moving in an erratic manner. Then, all of a sudden, the object made a dive and headed straight for them main hanger.

"GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" another of the soldiers yelled.

The soldiers dived for cover.

CRASH! The object smashed right through the main hanger door. It flew through the air until the object crashed onto the floor. It skidded towards the back of the hanger with unstoppable speed until it hit the back of the wall.

The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief as they got up from the floor. They looked at the object. It was a Long sword fighter, or was from whatever was left of it. The wings had literally been torn off, the fighter's 'tail' was gone and the windows on the bridge were smashed.

One of the soldiers raised his battle rifle and ran over to the front of the fighter. As he approached it, he could see a small pillar of smoke rise up from the cog pit. When he reached the cog pit, still keeping his weapon raised, he looked inside. The soldier gasped.

"Guys!" he called. "Come over here,"

The other thirteen soldiers ran over to the cog pit. They were keen to know what it was their comrade had found.

"Look inside the cog pit," he said when the other soldiers reached the cog pit.

One soldier at the front of the group looked inside first. He too gasped at what he saw.

There, lying on the floor of the cog pit, was a human. It was a woman because of the long hair. She was lying on her back with her legs facing towards the windows. Her hair was vanilla blonde and she was wearing a white bodysuit, which was torn in several places. The woman stirred. Suddenly, she shot up breathing heavily. She looked up at the soldiers. It was like some kind of being had landed on Earth and had no idea who or what the soldiers were.

"Eve," one of the soldiers said quietly.


	4. Debriefing

One hour later

It had been a hectic and busy hour since Eve's sudden appearance into the Cairo station main hanger. The Long sword fighter's remains had been disposed of and Eve had been taken to a holding room. Before Eve was taken to the holding room, Eve gave lord Hood Auto's data cord. Lord Hood then went back to the bridge to go through the data Auto had gathered.

"So, Auto," Hood said. "What happened to the _Axiom_?"

Auto's data cord had been placed into the bridge's control panel. His seven inch avatar form was coming out of a circle shaped hole near the edge of the control panel. On the holographic screen, a few inches in front of him, was an image of Halo.

"The Covenant chased us from Reach to this ring world called Halo," Auto explained. "Eve and John led a squad of soldiers onto the Covenant ship the _Truth and Reconciliation_. Theyrescued captain McCrea and a few other survivors. Me and Eve then went to Halo's control centre, but we discovered it contained this species called the Flood and it had the power to destroy all life in the universe, so we had to destroy the ring," Auto concluded.

"What about McCrea?" Hood asked.

"The Flood managed to kill him," Auto replied. "The Flood are no one's ally. They're like a parasitic race that spreads itself by overwhelming any form of sentient life and making the host one of their own. They managed to capture McCrea and were morphing him into one of them so Eve had no choice but to kill him," Hood sighed.

"The UNSC has lost one of It's greatest ships and one of It's best commanders," he said.

"We've lost more than that," Auto replied. "Hundreds more have been killed and one of them Sgt John."

"Actually, your wrong there," Hood told Auto. "John and about six other marines managed to escape this ring world on a pelican."

Auto sighed.

"Nine escape," he said. "But over six hundred more do not,"

Hood sighed. Auto was right. The loss of almost all of the _Axiom's_ crew, along with the ship itself, was a deadly blow to the UNSC. But at least one of those nine had managed to obtain information on these new ring worlds. Then, Hood remembered something.

"Before we finish here, Auto," he said. "Who was with you and Eve?"

Auto went wide-eyed and looked up at lord Hood. Wally.

"There was no one with us," Auto said to Hood.

"That's strange," Hood replied. "Because one of the marines that survived was with Eve's squad when they were in one of the ring world's jungles. He said that he saw Eve get beamed to the top of this tower and then this figure appeared on the tower's roof with her. Then they both disappeared,"

"I'm telling the truth, sir," Auto said. "Me and Eve were the only ones who destroyed Halo. There was no one else."

Hood did not look convinced, but he could not force Auto to tell him. He would find out eventually.


	5. Eve's past

**Later that day**

About half an hour after Eve was finished in the holding room, the UNSC captain, who was debriefing her, took Eve to one of the spare barracks on the platform. Just as he left, he said someone was going to meet her in here later on. Eve was sitting on a single bed near the back of the barracks. It had been twenty minutes since the captain had left her there. Eve was lost in her own thoughts. No happy ones. She only had thoughts filled with sorrow left now.

Ever since she had joined the task force, Eve had lost almost everyone that meant something to her. All her friends in the E.R were dead, the task force was completely destroyed, except for her, the soldiers of the ship she had sworn herself to aid and rescue them in their time of need were gone and now she had lost one true friend to her. Wally.

Ever since they had first met in the jungle when the Flood had been released, Wally had grown very close to Eve. He had protected her and had guided her through some of the most hostile area's of Halo. Eve remembered when she kissed him for saving her when Juggernaut tried to kill her. Then, he finally sacrificed his life to make sure she and Auto got off of the ring as it was destroyed.

Eve sighed. She gazed around the room, which she had done for the eighth time. The barracks was a large square shaped room with one door on the front wall leading out into the corridor behind it. There were twenty bunk beds along both side walls opposite each other. There were four single beds also opposite each other near the back of the barracks. There were four lights on the ceiling to light up the whole room.

Eve sighed once again and laid down on the bed. The events that had taken place in the last week or so were not the first that had caused her this much sorrow. A few other events had struck her when she was growing up.

**Begin flashback**

**Location: Sibley Memorial hospital, Washington D.C, Earth**

**Date: September 4th, 2531.**

_Washington D.C had changed a lot since the beginning of the 21st century. Most of the buildings were now hundreds of feet tall, there were many airports to get around the planet and several planetary exploration centres. The population of the city was now around three million people. It was also four times It's size than it had been hundreds of years earlier._

_In Sibley Memorial hospital's labour ward, a woman was lying in a bed. Her husband was sitting on a chair next to her. The woman had almost vanilla blonde hair with a small nose, blue eyes, soft cheeks and delicate pink lips. She had a perfect athletic body. Her name was Michelle Knight. She was thirty years old. _

_Michelle's husband's was much older. He was around thirty three years old. He had brown hair, green eyes, and a small beard growing on his chin. He was also quite heavily built as he used to be an athlete. His name was Henry Knight._

_The two had met when they both lived in New York. After about a year of dating, they got married in November 2530. Not long afterwards, they had their time of 'utmost privacy' and today, just a few hours earlier, Michelle had given birth to a baby girl. _

_The baby girl looked a lot like her mother. She too had vanilla blonde hair with delicate pink lips, soft cheeks, blue eyes and a small nose. She was resting in a bundle of blankets in the mother's arms. At the moment, she was fast asleep. _

_Henry smiled at Michelle. This was probably the happiest moment of their lives. _

_"She's beautiful," Henry said as he leaned forward to look at his daughter. _

_"I know," Michelle replied. "I just can't think of a name for her,"_

_"What about Sarah?" Henry suggested. "Or maybe Tamara? Emily?"_

_"Is everything okay?" someone asked. _

_The two looked up to see a doctor standing at the end of the bed. He was holding a data pad in his right hand._

_"Yeah, thanks," Henry replied. _

_The doctor smiled and walked up towards Michelle. _

_"How is she?" he asked her. _

_"She's fine," Michelle replied. "She's asleep at the moment."_

_The doctor smiled again and looked at his data pad. _

_"Well, we've gone over the blood and tissue samples," he said. "Your daughter is healthy so she'll be ready to go home in a few days,"_

_"Thank you," Henry replied. "Can't wait to take her home," _

_"I'm sure she'll like it when that happens," the doctor said. "Oh, and Mr Knight. I'm sorry to inform you that your next check-up has been moved from November 4th to Christmas Eve,"_

_"Hey, that's the perfect name," Michelle piped up. _

_"What?" Henry asked. _

_"I'll call her, Eve," Michelle replied. _

_"That's a pretty name," the doctor said. "I'll write it down on her birth certificate," _

_"Thank you, doctor," Henry replied. _

_The doctor nodded and walked away, leaving the three alone. _

_"I think Eve is the perfect name for our daughter," Henry said to his wife. _

_Michelle smiled and gave her husband a kiss._

_"I love you," she whispered quietly._

_Henry smiled and looked back at his wife and daughter. He was a husband and now he was father. _

_"I love you, too," he replied. _

**End flashback**

Eve smiled at herself. She remembered her childhood. She remembered the day she went home, the first day she started school and the first day she made friends. Her life was happy when she was a child. However, when she was fifteen, the first tragedy of her life struck.

**Begin flashback**

_Date: 2nd August, 2546_

_Location: Rock Creek cemetery, Washington D.C_

_The sky was filled with grey clouds. Small drops of rain were falling to the ground. Many people had umbrellas opened up over their heads. However, two people did not. _

_In the Rock Creek cemetery, two women were standing in front of a grave. It was Michelle and Eve. The two had barely changed over the past fifteen years. _

_Michelle was dressed in a black skirt, that went half-way down her legs to her knees, a black shirt which had several buttons open to reveal a white top underneath and she had small plimsolls. Her vanilla blonde hair, which was slightly soaked, was held down in a small black hair band. _

_Eve was standing next to her mother. She was dressed the same as her mother, only she had black leggings on. She had changed much as well. Eve towered over her mother at a height of five feet twelve inches. Her hair had also grown longer and was now at shoulder length. These two were always happy. But not today. The reason. One week earlier, Henry Knight was heading home when another driver failed to stop and crashed into his car. His car flipped over twice before landing on It's roof. He survived the crash but died the next day. This had come as a major blow to Eve and Michelle._

_Eve sighed and rested a hand on her mother's shoulder. Michelle hugged her daughter and rested her head on her shoulder. The two looked down at the grave._

**Here lies Henry Nicholas Knight.**

**Born **

**22. 5. 2498 **

**Died **

**26. 7. 2546**

**Age: 49**

**RIP.**

**A much loved husband and father**

_Michelle sniffed. _

_"I can't believe your father's gone," she whispered. "It was just so unexpected." _

_"I know," Eve replied. _

_A tear came out of her eye and rolled down her cheek. She also let out a sniff and wiped away the tear on her cheek. Her father, someone she had loved to death, was gone. _

**End flashback**

Eve wiped away several tears with the back of her hand. That flashback was one that had upset her beyond imagination. Even now almost six years later, she still had not gotten over her father's death. That, however, was not the only tragedy in her past.

**Begin flashback**

_Date: November 1st, 2550_

_Location: E.V.E (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) HQ building 3, E.V.E centre, Washington D.C_

_The E.V.E HQ centre had been built in 2438. It covered about two kilometres in length and one and a half in width. The entire centre was made up of five main buildings. One large building with a rectangle base and two small square shaped sections on the base's roof, E.V.E 1, was located in the middle of the E.V.E centre area. E.V.E 2, a building similar to E.V.E 1 but was smaller and had only one square section on the top of It's base, was located sixty metres southeast of E.V.E 1. E.V.E 3, a forty foot long building shaped like half a cylinder placed on It's side, was located twenty five metres north of E.V.E 1. Next to E.V.E 3 was E.V.E 4, which was also a half cylinder shaped building placed on It's side. Finally, two hundred feet southwest of E.V.E 1, was E.V.E 5, which was a short, wide building with several large ten feet tall cylinder shaped containers next to it. The rest of the area was either landing zones for E.V.E ships or parking lots for visitors or staff. _

_Four years had passed since Henry Knight's death. Eve was still impacted by her father's sudden death, but she had still led a happy life and it was slowly getting back to normal. Just three months ago, Eve had signed up for the E.V.E organization with her friends. They were all accepted. Eve had described the missions she had taken across other worlds as 'The most amazing thing!'_

_Today, Eve and two of her friends, Rachael and Anya, were preparing everything they needed as they were going on a six week mission to Medura II. They were scheduled to leave the day after tomorrow. _

_"So where we going to meet?" Eve asked her two friends as they walked out of E.V.E 3._

_The three were wearing white bodysuits, which resembled the bodysuits of the E.R only they were much lighter. _

_"We'll meet up outside E.V.E 1," Anya replied as the three walked towards the area's main parking lot._

_The three had just gone over debriefing for the mission to Medura II. Now they were heading home. Eve needed to leave anyway to check up on her mother, who was being looked after by a nurse as she was suffering from a slight mental illness she developed shortly after her husband's death. Eve had to keep an eye on her mother, not that she needed much looking after, but because she had several times tried to commit suicide. It was getting hard by looking after her and Eve had used up all her holiday extensions so she could look after her mother. _

_"I wonder what'll be on Medura II," Anya said. "I've heard that the entire of the planet is nothing but jungle,"_

_"I've heard that the surface of the planet is mostly ocean," Rachael replied. _

_"It could be any," Eve piped up. "I mean, they've only just recently discovered it,"_

_"Eve!" someone shouted from behind the three. _

_The three turned to see a young woman wearing jeans and a white top running up to them. It was the nurse that was looking after Eve's mother. _

_"Sarah?" Eve asked, completely dumbstruck. "What are you doing here?"_

_"We need to get to the hospital!" Sarah replied as she stopped in front of Eve. _

_"Why, what's happened?" Eve asked Sarah. _

_"It's your mother," Sarah replied. "She's had a stroke," _

_Eve gasped and placed a hand over hr mouth. No. Not her mother. She had lost her father, but she could not lose her mother. _

_"C'mon," Sarah said as she grabbed Eve's arm and led her to a nearby waiting car. _

_Five days later_

_**Date: 6th November 2550**_

_**Location: Rock Creek cemetery, Washington D.C **_

_The sky over Washington D.C was once again filled with grey clouds. Rain began to fall from them. People all over the city rushed to get indoors. It had been raining for three days now. _

_However, one person did not bother to run indoors._

_In the Rock Creek cemetery, Eve was standing over another grave next to her father's. She was wearing what she had worn to her father's funeral four years earlier. Eve read what was on the grave. _

**Here lies Michelle Rose Knight**

**Born**

**17. 12. 2501**

**Died**

**3. 11. 2550**

**Age: 49**

**RIP. **

**A much loved wife and mother.**

_Eve wiped away a tear from her eye. These last five days had been some of the worst in her life. Her mother had survived the stroke and Eve, who was in floods of tears, went to see her and was glad she was okay. However, just two hours before Eve was ready to leave for Medura II, the E.V.E centre staff called her and told her that her mother had died in her sleep the night before. This news, next to the news over the death of her father, was the worst Eve had ever received. She had never thought she would lose her mother at her age. _

**End flashback**

Eve wiped away another set of tears with the back of her hand. Those flashbacks brought back memories of her life she hated the most because they had involved the death of the two people she loved the most.

Eve shifted herself and placed her feet down on the floor. She had been here forty minutes. That captain said someone was going to meet her here. Well, where the hell was he/she? The door to the barracks opened. Eve looked up at the doorway. She gasped.

Standing in the doorway was a man in a high ranking soldier's uniform. It was John.

"Hey, Eve," he said.

"John!" Eve replied, aghast. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were dead,"

"Nope," John told Eve as he walked into the barracks. "Me and a group of marines made it here on a pelican. We got back the day before you,"

John sat own on the bed next to Eve.

"Until earlier today, we thought we were the only ones who made it," John said to Eve.

Eve sighed. John looked at her face and saw the dry tear marks.

"Have you been crying?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Eve answered quietly, nodding. "I've just been going over my past. But there's something else,"

"What?" John asked.

Eve sighed. She could not keep what had happened on Halo a secret for long. She did not know if Auto had told anyone about McCrea or Wally. But the cat was out of the bag now. It was time to admit.

"When me and Auto were on Halo, we met up with someone," Eve explained. "He was one of the monitors of Halo."

"A monitor?" John asked.

Eve nodded.

"We had to fight our way through the Flood, who were those creatures that attacked you and McCrea in that structure," Eve told John. "In the end, I had to kill McCrea to stop him from coming infected. Then, Wally sacrificed his life to save mine and Auto's on Halo."

John sighed and rested a hand on Eve's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Eve," he said. "It must be really hard for you and Auto, losing someone who saved your lives but gave up his own,"

"Well, of course it is!" Eve snapped at John.

John was taken aback by Eve. She never usually acted like that. Eve looked at John and sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to say that,"

"It's okay," John replied. "Anyway, I'll leave you to get some rest. There's an award ceremony happening tomorrow and It'll be held in the bridge." Eve sighed. "Okay," she said.

"Good," John replied. John stood up and walked towards the door. Just as he reached it, he turned to say one more thing to Eve.

"Oh, yeah, Eve. You'll need to go to the armour testing station tomorrow just before you head off to the bridge. I'll meet you in there,"

Eve nodded. John walked out into the corridor. The barracks closed behind him. Eve sighed and laid down on the bed. She just could not get over Wally's death. He had saved her and Auto. Eve just wished he would appear in front of her right now so she could be with him again. Just before he died, his last words to her were 'I love you'. She loved him as well. Now, he was dead, like her mother and father. Eve felt like there was no point in fighting anymore. All her friends were dead. Her mother and father were dead and now Wally was dead.

Maybe there was no point in continuing to fight anymore.


	6. The battle begins

The next day

A new day dawned for Earth. People were still going about their daily duties, but they were also still living in fear of the Covenant. Ever since the second Sol colonization zones had been destroyed, the remains of the human race were terrified that one day the Covenant would launch an attack on Earth. Well, at least the human race had Eve back so it kind of gave them an advantage.

Eve had woken up early that morning and headed straight for the armour testing station. She did not know what they were going to do when she got there, but, hopefully, they might repair her body suit because the shield had been destroyed in the crash and her suit was torn in several places across her back, chest and stomach.

The armour testing station was a short rectangular shaped room. There was one wide door leading to an elevator on the front wall near the left end and another door led to a small room where people would get changed to test out new armour. Half-way down the room was a machine which had two large panels, about four feet from each other, stick up from the floor. Connected to the top of the panels were two large diamond shaped panels. About a foot in front of the machine was a small panel with a scanning device on the top of it. About another two feet in front of that scanning device was another control panel. Scattered around the room were several crates in the corners. At the right end of the room, on the front wall, was a window which gave a clear view of the station's lower pillar. Around it were the stars which were visible in space's everlasting darkness. Below the pillar was the just visible outline of humanity's home world. Earth.

In the armour testing room, Eve stood near the edge of the machine next to a table with a battle rifle and an ammo clip lying on it. She had dressed into a new bodysuit. There was a soldier standing in front of the control panel in front of the scanning device. He was going over the damage on Eve's old bodysuit, which he had laid across the control panel.

"Man, you really must have fought hard with the Covenant on that ring world, Eve" he said. "The crash must have done some damage as well. The holographic meter's power supply is fried, the Dorvask layer is kaput and let's not even talk about gel layer beneath that,"

"That bad?" Eve asked.

"Bad?" the soldier repeated, chuckling slightly. "It's worse than anything I've ever seen before, Eve. You know how expensive this gear is, girl?"

Eve smirked and picked up the battle rifle in one hand and the ammo clip in the other. She loaded the ammo into the battle rifle.

"Tell that to the Covenant,"

"Alright, now. C'mon, put that down." the soldier said. "The Covenant aren't here, yet. And to be honest with you, I doubt they will be,"

Eve set the battle rifle back down onto the table and walked towards the machine. She stepped in between the two panels either side of her. The soldier walked back behind the control panel. He picked up the old bodysuit and placed it on the table before looking up at Eve.

"Okay, Eve, now pay attention because I'm only going over this once," he said. "Now, your new suit's a Mark VI, just came up from New Mombassa this morning. Alright, let's test your suit's shields. Place your hand on the scanning device."

Eve placed her hand on the scanning device. An electrical whir was heard. Then, the two diamond shaped pillars began to turn. They spun round slowly at first, then they started getting faster and faster. In just a few seconds, they were a blur. A gold light came out from the sides and headed straight for Eve. The holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level was rising quickly to the top of the meter. When it hit the top, it began to flash red, like it would do when the suit's shield was damaged, and a beeping sound emitted from the holographic meter.

An electrical bang filled the room. Eve looked down at the holographic meter above her wrist. It was empty.

"Bingo!" the soldier exclaimed.

The beeping sound continued for about another two seconds before stopping abruptly. Then, the level in the meter began to rise.

"As you can see, they recharge a lot faster," the soldier said to Eve.

The soldier pressed a button on the control panel. The two diamond shaped panels began to slowed down until one point was facing the floor and the other was facing the ceiling. Eve stepped backwards out from the machine.

"It's impressive," Eve said.

"It sure is," the soldier replied. "If your shields go down, find some cover and wait for the meter to fully recharge."

"That, or she can hide behind my back," a voice said, making the two jump.

Eve and the soldier looked up towards the elevator door. Sergeant John was standing there, only this time he was wearing a white high ranking officer's uniform. It looked new and he was wearing polished new shoes as well.

"You finally done with her, soldier? I don't see any training wheels." John said.

"Her armour's working fine, John," the soldier replied. He then turned to Eve. "Your free to go, Eve, just remember, take things nice and slow and be careful with that bodysuit,"

"Don't worry, I'll hold her hand," John said.

Eve rolled her eyes and walked into the elevator; John followed.

"So, John. When you going to tell me how made it back in one piece?" the soldier asked.

"Sorry, soldier. It's classified." John replied.

"Huh, my ass, It's classified!" the soldier exclaimed. "I bet it wasn't even as great as everyone's saying it was,"

"Of course it was," John said to the soldier.

"Yeah, he came back by pelican," Eve piped up.

The soldier laughed. John glared at Eve, who smirked and pressed a button on the elevator's wall. The elevator's door lowered. The two jolted as the elevator ascended away from the armoury.

"Thanks for that, Eve," John said sarcastically.

"It's alright," Eve replied.

The elevator jolted again. The door rose up. Eve and John walked forward out of the elevator.

The two were on a large platform floor that was next to a tram rail, which carried on left past another platform before disappearing into a tunnel. On the ceiling ahead of the two was a window which showed a clear view of Earth. John sighed happily.

"Earth," he said. "Last time I saw her was over seven years ago,"

"I know," Eve replied. "I haven't seen her for years, either,"

The two felt really happy, like all the troubles of the world had been washed away. Looking at Earth from space was probably the most beautiful thing to see. Hundreds of years ago, it was a once in a life time opportunity. Now, almost every human has seen Earth from space at least once. Neil Armstrong had described the moon landing in 1969 being _"One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind."_ That giant leap for mankind had really progressed since then. A tram pulled up next to the two. The doors opened. Eve and John walked forward into the tram. There were four seats, two on the left and two on the right, of the door on their side of the tram and another four either side of another door ahead of them. There were several windows across the walls and ceiling of the tram.

The tram jolted slightly as it moved down the rail towards the platform about seventy feet away. John looked up through tram's window in front of him at Earth.

"I remember when there were only a few Orbital defence platforms above Earth," he said. "Now, look. The _Cairo_ is just one of two hundred and eighty platforms. These MAC guns can put a round right through a Covenant assault carrier. And with co-ordinated fire from the _Athens _and the _Malta_, nothing's going to get past this battle station in one piece."

The tram stopped next to a platform. The two turned to see a crowd of marines outside on the platform. They began to clap when they saw Eve and John.

The tram doors opened, allowing the two to step out onto the platform. The crowd broke apart to reveal a blast door. Above it on the wall was the word **Bridge**. Eve and John walked towards the blast door. It opened to reveal the bridge to the two as they walked forward into it.

Eve and John gazed around the bridge. They awed at the sight of space through the bridge's massive ceiling window. Around them were officers in white high ranking uniforms like John's. They stood in lines of twelve down the middle of the bridge with each line of officers being about twenty feet from each other. Along the tops of the platforms were two lines of officers, one on each.

At the end of the middle of the lines of officers, next to the ramp that led up to a platform, were lord Hood, who standing next to a cylindrical panel, and a young woman named Mary. Mary was an average height woman at five feet eight inches in her middle twenties. She had brown hair, a small nose, soft cheeks and brown eyes. She had a thin athletic body much like Eve's. She too was wearing a white high ranking navy officers uniform and polished shoes. Her last name was McCrea. She was the daughter of captain McCrea.

Eve and John walked down the lines of people up to the two.

"Good to see you, John, Eve," Hood said, giving a salute. "This is captain Mary, the now deceased captain McCrea's daughter."

"How do you do, ma'am," John said, shaking Mary's hand.

"Hi," Mary replied, letting go of John's hand and shaking Eve's.

When John and Eve greeted Mary, the panel next to lord Hood lit up. Auto's seven inch high avatar rose up out of the panel. He was wearing some kind of new high ranking officer's suit as well.

"Good to have with us, Auto," Hood said.

"Thank you, sir," Auto replied. "But we've had another whisper, sir. Near Io. A few probes have been sent,"

Hood sighed and faced Mary, Eve and John.

"I apologize, but we're going to have to make this quick," he said.

An officer holding a small rectangular shaped box in his hands walked up to Hood, who opened it. Lying in the box were three medals. They were gold coloured and had the shape of a circle on it, which was representing Earth. Two swords were in the background attached to the circle. The medal was known as the Colonial Cross. It was given to those who had fought long and hard and had managed to survive in the war against the Covenant.

Hood took out one of the medals and walked towards Sgt. John.

"Sergeant Major John," he said. "The Colonial Cross is awarded for your acts of singular daring and devotion, for a soldier of the United Earth Space Corps."

Hood placed the medal on John's chest. He then turned and took out another Colonial Cross medal.

"Captain Mary McCrea," he said as he walked towards Mary. "Your father's actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service. His bravery in the face of impossible odds reflects great credit, upon himself, and the UNSC," Hood placed the medal in Mary's open hand. "The navy has lost one of It's best,"

Hood turned towards the box once more and picked up the last medal. He then turned and walked towards Eve.

"Eve," he said. "Your actions of bravery and devotion against the Covenant are some of the best the UNSC have ever seen. Many lives would not be here today were it not for your heroic actions,"

Hood placed the medal in Eve's open hands.

Suddenly, an alarm rang out throughout the bridge.

"I've picked up slip space rupture, directly off our battle cluster," Auto said.

"Show me," Hood replied.

A large holographic screen appeared from the top of a nearby control panel. Everyone looked at it. It had a large circle on the right side, representing Earth. At the left end were fifteen holographic Covenant ships. Three assault carriers and twelve CCS battle cruisers.

"Fifteen Covenant ships are holding position just outside the kill zone," Auto explained. "Our MAC guns are useless at the moment,"

Then, two large holographic UNSC battleships appeared on screen from the bottom. They moved up towards the Covenant ships. A voice crackled out of an intercom connected to the bridge's ship-to-ship communications network.

"_This is fleet admiral_ _Martinez. We are engaging the enemy," _

"Negative admiral," Hood ordered. "Form a defensive perimeter around the cluster,"

A frenzy of activity broke out in the bridge. Everyone began rushing to control panels to issue orders or prepare defences for the station. Hood turned to Mary.

"Commander, get to your ship. Link up with the fleet," he said.

"Yes, sir," Mary replied, giving a salute.

Mary turned and walked towards one of the bridge's side entrances. Hood turned back to Auto.

"You have the MAC gun, Auto," he said. "As soon as they're in range, open up,"

"Gladly," Auto replied as his figure disappeared back inside the panel.

Hood looked up at the hologram. He had a thought of confusion in his mind. The Covenant now knew this was a human controlled world, but Hood had two unanswered questions in his mind. Why had the Covenant not attacked the other colonized planets in this Sol before moving on to Earth? And why had they come here with only fifteen ships?

"Something's not right here," he said. "The fleet that destroyed Reach was over three times this size."

"Sir!" one of the workers from the control panel furthest from the floor shouted. "We've got additional contact. It's boarding craft. My God, there's hundreds of 'em!"

Eve, John and Hood looked back at the hologram. Two large red circles had appeared about half-way across the hologram. Inside them were hundreds of little red dots. Covenant boarding craft. Altogether there could be untold thousands in just one of those red circles.

"That's not good," Hood said. "They're going to take our MAC guns offline."

Hood turned to the workers on the control panels.

"Give their capitol ships a straight shot at Earth." he ordered.

Hood then turned to Eve.

"Eve, defend this station," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," Eve replied. She faced John. "John, I need a weapon,"

"Music to my ears," John said. "Follow me,"

As the two went to leave, another voice stopped Eve.

"Hey, Eve!"

Eve turned to see Auto's avatar on the control panel. "Good luck," he said.

"Thanks," Eve replied. "Oh, and Auto,"

Eve tossed Auto her medal, which disappeared when it landed in his open hand. Most likely into some trans-dimensional pocket.

"I'll look after it," Auto said.

Eve nodded and ran over to John, who was waiting for her next to a long corridor that led from the bridge to the armoury.

"Let's go," John said as the two ran down the corridor.

In space above them, swarms of Long sword fighters followed the UNSC battleships and frigates towards the Covenant ships.

The battle of Earth has begun.


	7. Defence of Cairo station

John and Eve walked through an open doorway into a large rectangular shaped room which was the armoury. Several boxes and lockers scattered around on the sides of the room. On them were weapons including battle rifles, M6C pistols, and MA5B and C assault rifles. There was another door at the far end of the right wall that led out into a waiting room.

About fifteen other soldiers were scattered around the armoury gathering weapons. John ran over to a nearby locker lying on the ground. He opened it and pulled out a deployable machine gun. Eve ran over to a nearby box and picked up an MA5B assault rifle.

"Alright, everyone. Let's move out," John ordered.

John ran over to the door at the far end of the armoury. Eve and five of the soldiers followed. The squad ran into a large room. On the right wall was a large blast door. Between the blast door and the stairs, which lead along the left wall to the floor, were several steel barriers. On the top of the wall above the blast door was a walkway which led to a small door. On the wall opposite where the squad had just come from was a large window which gave the group a good view of Earth and Athens and Malta orbital defence platforms.

John set up his deployable machine gun at the top of the stairs whilst Eve and the other soldiers take up positions around the room. Eve took cover behind a steel barrier with another soldier. She aimed her battle rifle towards the door and waited. At any moment, Covenant forces could burst through that door and fire on them.

"How's it going, Malta?" John asked into a small ear radio, which Eve could hear as well through a new com placed in her ear.

"Standby," a voice replied. A loud CLANG was heard in the background. "They're latched. Check your targets and watch the crossfire. Right, here they come. They'll be in standard formation. Little bastards up front and the big ones in the back. Good luck Cairo,"

CLANG! The station shook slightly as a large object attached itself to the side of the Cairo. Eve looked out of the window and saw a large bulky cylindrical shaped object, with three large tentacle-shaped wings which had opened up when the object was near the station, outside in space. It was a Covenant boarding craft.

The sounds of gunfire and shouting drew the squad's attention to the door. The noise was coming from the other side of the door. Blast power was heard, followed by a high pitched scream and then gunfire from a UNSC weapons.

"Looks like our boys are kicking their asses," the soldier next to Eve said.

"Let's hope so," Eve replied.

Suddenly, a loud fizzing sound filled the room. Eve looked out from behind the steel barrier to see a white/yellow light appear on the door. It was fizzing away like a blowtorch.

"Get ready," John ordered. "As soon as that door opens, let 'em have it!"

Eve checked her battle rifle to make sure it was reloaded. The Covenant would most likely come in a huge number. Eve then looked out at the door. She raised her battle rifle at the door and kept her finger close to the trigger. Her heart beat like mad against her chest. What she did not know was how many Covenant were on the other side of that door and what types there were.

The light on the door had grown so it now covered the entire middle of the door. Eve tightened her finger on the trigger. She knew that a swarm of Covenant would fire on the squad as soon as the door was down. Again, Eve thought how many-

BOOM! The door exploded, sending huge chunks of it across the room. A cloud of thick smoke filed the air in front of the door.

"Open fire!" John shouted.

At once, a barrage of gunfire filled the room. Every gun around Eve exploded. Bullets flew into the dust cloud. Eve fired a barrage of ammo from her battle rifle into the dust cloud. Light blue and light green blasts flew out of the dust cloud at the squad. Thankfully, most of the squad was hiding behind cover.

After a few seconds, the dust cloud began to clear. The squad could see two dead Grunts lying on the floor. But there were three Grunts and an Elite, all minors, left.

Eve stood up and fired a burst of ammo at the Elite. It hit It's shield, causing it to look in her direction.

"DEMON!" the Elite roared.

The Grunts aimed their weapons at Eve and fired. Eve ducked behind the barrier, narrowly missing several blasts as they hit the side of the barrier.

"Kill demon!" one of the Grunts squeaked.

John fired a barrage from his machine gun at the Grunts, hitting and killing two of them. The Elite growled and took out a plasma grenade. It pressed It's thumb down on the device and threw it at John. John saw it coming and dived out of the way.

BOOM! The grenade exploded, destroying the deployable machine gun. A nearby soldier fired a burst from his battle rifle at the Elite, breaking through It's shield and hitting it in the chest. The Elite fell to the floor dead.

Eve fired another burst of ammo at the last remaining Grunt, killing it.

"Is that the last of them?" one of the soldiers asked.

He got his answer when another explosion echoed up from the corridor behind what was once the blast door. Then, the small lumbering figures of the Grunts lumbered out into the room, followed the tall bulky figure of the Elite.

"Fire on 'em!" John shouted.

The squad opened fired on the Covenant, who retaliated with their own gunfire. John, who was now using an M6C pistol, managed to kill a Grunt. However, the Elite fired two shots from It's plasma rifle at him. John ducked, narrowly missing the blasts.

Eve fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle at the Elite. The bullets broke through It's shield but failed to kill it. The Elite growled and fired a burst of ammo at Eve, which she managed to dodge by diving behind another steel barrier near where the blast door once was.

Eve loaded another clip into her battle rifle and stood up. She fired another burst of ammo at the Elite. With It's shield still down, the Elite was vulnerable. It fell to the floor, dead.

"Leader dead!" one of the remaining Grunts squeaked. "Run away!"

The Grunts turned and fled back towards the corridor. However, the squad fired on them, killing them.

"Let's move out!" John ordered.

Eve ran into the corridor where the Covenant had come from. It was a complete mess. There were dead bodies, both Covenant and UNSC, scattered left and right of Eve and huge chunks from the walls, floor and even the ceilings lay strewn everywhere. Eve looked down towards the left end. There was a huge hole in the ceiling, most likely how the Covenant had come down into the corridor.

"Eve!" John called as he ran into the corridor. "C'mon!"

Eve turned and followed the squad up the corridor towards the end. They turned left up a flight of stairs and then right down a walkway. The squad found themselves in another large rectangular shaped room that had paths going inside the walls and openings in the walls which led out onto some platforms. There were three platforms, two on the right side and one on the left and had small glass walls along the sides, that led down towards the other end of the room. On the walls on both sides were large blast doors. Both led into corridors.

BANG! A light blue explosion lit up the room. The squad looked towards the other end of the explosion, where the explosion had come from, and saw squads of Covenant. There were two squads of Grunts, each being led by an Elite. They were all minors. There were several dead Covenant scattered across the floor of the room. There were also several dead marines scattered on the platforms and across the floor. It was obvious there had, and probably still was, a battle here.

"C'mon, you dumb apes!" a voice below the walkway shouted.

Eve looked down to see two UNSC personal, one in a white navy officer's uniform the other in a soldier's uniform, hiding behind a large crate. They were both armed with M6C pistols. The soldier blind fired a shot from behind the crate, hitting a Grunt in the side. The creature's armour prevented the bullet from penetrating into It's skin.

"C'mon!" John ordered. "You two, stay here and provide us cover," he said to two of the soldiers, who replied with a nod.

John led Eve and the remaining three soldiers down the walkway towards an opening in the wall. The squad ran left down some steps towards the path that led along the inside of the wall onto the two platforms.

Eve and the squad ran out onto the first platform. One of the Covenant squads saw them and fired on them. The squad retaliated with their own gunfire. Eve fired two bursts of ammo from her battle rifle at the Elite. The bullets broke through the creature's shield and embedded themselves in It's chest, killing it

"LEADER DEAD!" one of the three remaining Grunts yelled. "RUN AWAY!"

The three Grunts turned and ran back towards the second Covenant squad near the other end of the room. The squad fired on the fleeing Grunts, killing two of them.

Eve jumped over the glass wall on the side of the platform onto the floor. She ran towards the Covenant at the other end of the room, firing a barrage from her battle rifle. One of the Grunts from the second Covenant squad yelled as it was hit and flipped backwards onto It's stomach, dead. The Elite growled and pulled out an energy sword. The Elite swung the deadly weapon at Eve. Luckily, she ducked and swung her battle rifle at the Elite's legs, causing it to fall over. The weapon flew into the air and landed on the Elite's chest, killing it.

"RUN AWAY!" another of the remaining Grunts yelled.

The Grunts of the second Covenant squad quickly broke apart and fled towards the other end of the room screaming and waving their arms around in terror.

"C'mon, we got them on the run!" Eve shouted to the UNSC soldiers behind her.

John nodded and jumped over the platform's glass windows onto the floor; the soldiers followed. The squad fired on the retreating Grunts.

All of a sudden, both blast doors began to rise. Eve skidded to a halt and quickly loaded another clip into her battle rifle. Just as she finished, a zealot Elite charged out from the left blast door. It spotted Eve.

"Kill the demon!" the Elite shouted.

Eve dived to her right as the zealot Elite jumped up into the air and swung It's energy sword into the floor. Eve quickly got up and raised her battle rifle. However, a blast hit her hand, causing her shield to light up and the holographic meter to appear above her wrist. Eve turned and saw two Grunts standing in the right blast door's doorway. They charged up their plasma pistols and got ready to fire.

"DIE DEMON!" the zealot Elite yelled.

Eve looked back at the Elite just in time to see it jump into the air and raise It's sword. Eve dived sideways, narrowly missing the Elite as it landed where Eve had been standing. Unfortunately, the Grunts fired their charged shots just as the Elite landed on the floor. The two deadly blasts hit the Elite's shield, disabling it. Eve saw this and quickly fired a barrage at the Elite, killing it.

The two Grunts turned and fled back into the room on the other side of the right doorway.

"Area's secure," Eve said.

"Good work, Eve," John replied as he led the squad, which now had the two soldiers that were taking cover behind the crate and two soldiers ordered to stay on the walkway, towards the left open doorway.

Eve followed John and the squad as they ran down a small corridor towards an open door at the end. As the squad got closer, they could hear blast fire and gunfire, followed by shouting. The squad ran out of the door onto a walkway.

The squad found themselves in a wide rectangular shaped room. The walkway they were on started from the left wall and went down the side of the wall to a rectangular shaped block that stuck out from the wall and ended about ten feet from the enormous glass door on the front wall of the room. On both the left and right walls were large blast doors which were closed. Scattered around on both sides of the block were several tall control panel pillars.

The screaming and shouting was coming from a squad of three UNSC marines on the block firing down on two squads of Covenant with another deployable machine gun. As usual, they were all minors, made up of four Grunts and were being led by an Elite. Sticking through the window was the long tunnel that led from the station to the enormous boarding craft out in space. From inside the station, it looked like some great beast had stuck It's mouth inside the

John led the squad down the walkway onto the block. There, the squad fired down onto the Covenant. Eve fired a barrage from her battle rifle down at the Covenant, killing a Grunt. One of the Elites growled and took out a plasma grenade, lit it and threw the weapon up at Eve. Eve saw it coming and whacked it back down towards the Covenant squad. The Elite roared and dived for cover as the grenade landed on the back of a Grunt that failed to notice the danger in time.

"AHHH!" the Grunt screamed. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

The Grunt panicked and ran wild around his squad, waving in arms around in terror. The rest of his squad dived for cover.

BOOM! The grenade exploded, causing one of the control panel pillars to fall over onto the floor. A cloud of smoke quickly flew into the air. Then, as quickly as it came, the smoke departed. The squad saw both of the Elites and all of the Grunts dead. Eve loaded another clip into her battle rifle and jumped over the railing of the walkway onto the floor below.

"Wait there," she said to the squad.

Eve silently stepped over the bodies of the dead Covenant scattered across the floor. She raised her battle rifle aimed at the tunnel in case any more Covenant were about to charge out into the room. Eve could see some kind of purple haze hovering several feet from the end of the hole. It was probably some kind of shield. Further down the corridor was pitch blackness. Another reason why the Covenant could easily overwhelm their enemies from boarding craft.

Suddenly, Eve was falling forward. She only just managed to hold her hands out to stop herself from smacking her head against the metal. Eve looked down towards her legs. One of the minor Elites, which had only been pretending it was dead and was sill lying down on the floor, had grabbed her leg and pulled it backwards. The Elite shot up from the floor and threw a kick at Eve, getting her in the stomach. The impact winded Eve. Her vision began to fade. The Elite rose It's foot above Eve's head. It was going to crush Eve's head. It looked like this was the end for her.

Suddenly, a burst of ammo sent onto It's knees. The Elite roared in pain as purple blood began to leak from the creature's lower back. Another burst of ammo hit the creature's upper back. The Elite fell forward onto the floor, dead.

John and two marines ran up to her.

"You alright?" John asked Eve as he helped her up.

"Yeah, thanks," Eve replied.

CLANG! Eve shot round to see another boarding craft attach itself to the window. This one had landed about fifteen feet from the first boarding craft. Eve ran over to the second tunnel. Just as she reached it, four Grunts and an Elite came charging out of the darkness from the back of the tunnel. The Covenant squad charged through the shield into the room. Only, the squad of UNSC were prepared for them.

A barrage of gunfire exploded in the room as the Covenant soldiers, one-by-one, were killed as they came out of the boarding craft's tunnel. Eve finished off the Covenant squad by firing a burst of ammo at the Elite, killing it.

John walked towards the boarding craft's tunnel, his pistol aimed directly at it in case any more Covenant were to charge out.

"That's probably the last of 'em," he said.

"Hey, check it out," one of the soldiers on the block said, pointing out through the window into space. "The Malta's already driven off It's borders,"

Eve ran in front of the block and looked out into space. The soldier was right. Eve, though only just, could see several light blue trails shoot off from the sides of the Malta. Far in front of the Malta was the Athens orbital defence platform. Scattered in space around the two platforms were more UNSC ships flying up into space to engage the Covenant ships.

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"Malta, what is your status, over?" came Auto's voice.

"I don't believe it!" came the reply. "The Covenant are pulling back! We've won! We better-KZK!"

The soldier talking was suddenly cut off from Auto. Eve looked out into space at the Malta orbital defence platform and saw why. Several large explosion were erupting along the sides of the platform. More of them erupted every second. Eve could only imagine the terror that must be taking place aboard the Malta.

Suddenly, a large explosion lit up space. The light came from the Malta. Eve gasped. John looked on in disbelief, just like the rest of the soldiers.

The Malta had exploded.

"What the hell caused that to happen?" John asked.

"I don't know," Eve replied. "But whatever it is, It's not good,"

BANG! An explosion caused the squad to dive for cover. Eve was the first to lift her head up from the floor to see where the explosion came from. There was a cloud of smoke in front of the blast door on the left wall. A light blue blast flew out of the cloud of dust into the room. It hit one of the soldiers on the block in the face. The soldier fell onto the block's floor, dead.

Eve fired a barrage from her battle rifle into the dust cloud. A high pitched yell was heard. That was another Covenant soldier dead. However, another light blue blast flew out from the cloud and hit Eve's shield, causing it to light up and the holographic meter to appear. Eve dived behind a nearby control panel pillar, narrowly missing another blast.

"Open fire!" John ordered as he took cover behind the side of the block.

The squad fired a barrage into the smoke cloud. No sooner than a second passed before a barrage of light green and light blue blasts flew out at the squad. One hit a soldier in the face, killing him.

Eve loaded another clip into her battle rifle. She peeked her head out from behind the pillar. The smoke cloud had disappeared, revealing a minor Elite and three Grunts. There had been four, but a Grunt as lying dead on the floor. The Covenant squad were standing in the blast door's doorway, blocking the way into the corridor. Eve fired a barrage at the Elite, causing It's armour's shield to light up as the bullets hit it. The Elite growled and fired three shots at Eve, who moved behind the pillar; narrowly missing the blasts ad they hit the side of the pillar.

John fired at the Covenant with his M6C pistol. Suddenly, it clicked loudly several times as John pulled the trigger. He was out of ammo. John hid behind the block and loaded another clip into his pistol. Whilst he was doing this he peeked his head out from behind the block to look at the Covenant. Immediately, he saw a Grunt pull out a small blue shaped ball with an orange thunderbolt on it. A plasma grenade.

John loaded the clip into his pistol, jumped out from behind the block and fired at the Grunt just as it lit the grenade. The Grunt yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto the floor, dead. The grenade fell onto the floor.

BOOM! The grenade exploded, throwing the Grunts and Elite through the air. The bodies landed either in the corridor or on the floor around the right side of the block. Eve stepped out from behind the pillar, her battle rifle raised at the corridor in case anymore Covenant charged out to attack them.

"Is it clear?" John asked Eve.

"I think so," she replied, lowering her weapon. "Alright, let's go," she ordered.

Eve ran into the corridor. John and three of the remaining soldiers followed. The squad ran right down the corridor and then turned left down another corridor that was shorter than the last. The squad ran through a blown open doorway.

The squad found themselves in another long corridor. However, this time there were windows along both of the walls, which gave a clear view of Earth, space, the enormous battle going on between UNSC and Covenant ships and the orbital platform's tall MAC cannon, and there were several plants and smaller corridor leading off of the one they were in. Some led to doors which lead out into space, other led to either armouries or hangers. Down near left end was a squad of marines. Mary was among them, taking cover behind a wall that led into a smaller corridor. She was armed with a M6C magnum. Further up towards the right end of the corridor were several Grunts and an Elite. There were two dead marines and a Grunt lying dead on the floor, so it was obvious the battle had been going on for some time.

Eve ran over to Mary as John and the rest of the squad that came with him and Eve.

"You okay?" Eve asked Mary as she reached her and hid behind the wall.

"Yeah," Mary replied as she fired another shot down the corridor at the Covenant. "We got ambushed on the way to the next hanger. We need to get to the Amber Clad. It's docked on the side of the station,"

"Problem is; how?" Eve asked as she looked down the corridor at the Covenant.

The Elite fired a shot from It's plasma rifle down the corridor. It hit a wall just inches above the head of a soldier taking cover behind a large plant vase. The soldier fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle back down the corridor at the Elite. Like the plasma rifle shot, the bullets missed as the Elite hid behind a wall.

Eve looked up the corridor to try and find a way past the Covenant. Then, she found one.

"We'll never break through them!" Mary growled as she loaded another clip of ammo into her battle rifle. "Eve, do you have any ideas? Eve?"

Mary turned to see Eve running towards the end of the corridor they were in.

"Eve!" Mary called.

"Just stay there and keep them pinned down!" Eve shouted back.

A confused look came upon Mary's face. What the hell was Eve doing? Whatever it was, it would mean the death for Mary and the rest of the squad. Mary just sighed and shook her head before resuming firing on the Covenant.

Eve turned left into another long corridor. Along both walls of this corridor were windows which again showed a clear view of the MAC cannon and Earth, but also a small tunnel section that led to a large bulge. The noises of the battle going on in the next corridor were only just visible, despite it being only around fifty feet away. Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. As she got closer, the noises of the battle slowly grew louder. Eve finally reached the end of the corridor and turned right into another.

Eve skidded to a halt and looked ahead down the corridor. She could see the Elite and three Grunts. They were too busy firing down at the squad so they had no idea Eve was on their flank. This was perfect.

Eve checked her battle rifle to make sure it was loaded. It was. She then aimed down the corridor at the Elite, who was blind firing from behind a wall down at the squad. Eve pulled the trigger.

A burst of ammo exploded in the corridor. The bullets broke through the Elite's shield and threw the creature out into the corridor, perfectly exposed to the squad. A barrage of gunfire flew at the Elite, hitting it in the chest, side and head. The alien fell to the floor, dead.

"Leader dead!" one of the Grunts squeaked. "Run away!"

The Grunts immediately took off further down their end of the corridor towards a small door. The squad fired down at them, killing them.

"What the hell happened to that Elite?" One of the soldiers asked.

He got his answer when Eve walked out from the side corridor into the main one.

"What would you do without me," she said as the squad ran up to her.

"Nice work, Eve," John said. "Alright, let's move on,"

The squad ran down the corridor towards a small door at the end. It opened as they approached it. The squad ran through the doorway into the room on the other side.

The room the squad had just entered was another hanger, only this time there was no block coming off of the back wall and there were two pelicans being held several feet from the floor by large metal pincers. The wall in front of them was another large glass door which led out into space. However, there were also two large shapes out in space that had long tunnels going through the glass doors. They were Covenant boarding craft. There were also several Covenant troops scattered around the hanger, hiding behind crates and firing their weapons at two UNSC soldiers, who were cover behind a large pillar that held up the walkway just below the squad.

"Open fire," John ordered.

A barrage exploded in the hanger. The Covenant troops ducked as low as they could to avoid the bullets. However, one of the Grunts was hit and fell sideways onto the hanger floor, dead. A minor Elite, hiding behind a crate just next a few feet from the dead Grunt, was hit several times by the squad. Eve then fired a burst of ammo at the Elite's head. The bullets broke through the shield and killed the creature.

"They got leader!" one of the remaining Grunts yelled. "Run away!"

The last three Grunts ran out from behind their cover, waving their arms about in the air and screaming in terror. Eve and the squad fired on them, killing all of them.

"Hanger's secure," one of the soldiers below the walkway said.

Eve, John and the soldiers on the walkway jumped over the edge onto the hanger floor. Eve cautiously approached the dead Covenant, her battle rifle raised in case one of them was not dead and decided to jump her.

Whilst Eve was checking that the Covenant were dead, John walked up to the glass door. He looked out into space at Earth. The Athens orbital defence platform was just visible.

Suddenly, a blue line shot out from the Athens and disappeared. Several more followed just milliseconds later. John went wide-eyed. He had seen those blue lines just before the Malta exploded. Now that they were coming off of the Athens, it only meant one thing.

"Uh oh!" he said, anxiety in his voice. "They're leaving the Athens!"

Eve ran over to the window and looked out into space at the Athens. She only just managed to catch a glimpse of a blue line disappearing into space. However, she more focused on the explosions erupting from the Athens.

BOOM! Space was lit up like the sun once again. Eve and John gasped as the Athens broke apart into large pieces and floated away from where the orbital defence platform had once been. In the blink of an eye, over a thousand UNSC personal were dead.

Eve's ear radio suddenly crackled to life.

"Auto, assessment," came Hood's voice.

"There are not any Covenant ships near the battle cluster," Auto explained. "The only cause for the explosion was that it had come from inside the Athens. The Covenant must have brought something with them. Most likely a bomb,"

"If that's true, then they've sure as hell brought one here," Hood replied. "Eve, you have a new objective. Find and disable that bomb,"

Eve placed a finger on her ear radio.

"Roger that, sir," she said.

Eve lowered her hand back down to her side. This was going to be a bit of a problem. It was now a race against time to find and disable the bomb. Also, the Covenant have landed all over the station. The bomb could be anywhere. Hopefully, she would find it in time.

A sudden mechanical hum caused Eve and John to turn round. A section of the floor was lifting up into the air like a trapdoor. Eve walked forward and saw some steps lead down to a path.

"We'll go with Mary to the Amber Clad," John said to Eve. "Good luck,"

"Thanks," Eve replied.

Eve walked down the steps towards the path. The door above her lowered down to be part of the floor, darkening the stairs so the only source of light was through the gaps of the railings on the floor. Eve took one more look up at the door. Was this going to be the last time she would see mankind or It's creations ever again?

Eve continued down the steps towards the path, going slowly and one at a time as she walking almost completely blind. As she got closer to it, several red lights turned on, lighting up the stairs enough so Eve could see the path just a few metres below. Eve walked down the rest of the steps into the path.

The path was a long corridor that led to another flight of steps about fifty feet ahead. To the right was a wall. To the left was a small half a foot high ramp that went down onto a lower and thinner path, which had several wide pillars going along it, before there was another half a foot high ramp went up onto another corridor path.

Eve tightened her grip on her battle rifle. She doubted it, but there may be Covenant down here. Eve walked down the corridor, aiming her battle rifle. She had to be extra vigilant just in case any Covenant were down here. Step-by-step, she slowly got closer to the other end of the corridor.

Suddenly, Eve dived to the floor. The reason; an energy sword flew out from behind a pillar in front of Eve and hit the wall. Eve looked up at where the sword was. She saw nothing at first. Then, the outline of a figure became visible. It was an Elite using a stealth cloak. The Elite grunted as it pulled the energy sword out of the wall and turned to face Eve. What the…? She was gone.

The Elite scanned the corridor for any sign of Eve. It even walked forward and looked up and down the path the pillars were on.

Where is that human nuisance? The Elite angrily thought.

Eve was hiding behind a nearby pillar. What the Elite had not done was check the sides of them. Big mistake. Eve gripped her battle rifle and aimed it up at the Elite's head. She pulled the trigger.

A burst of ammo exploded in the corridor. The energy sword fell to the floor Eve then heard a loud thud. Sparks flew up from the floor. Then, the shape of a figure began to form. After a few seconds, the shape was revealed to be the Elite. However, this Elite had silver armour, not blue or red armour.

Looks like the Covenant are bringing in the more powerful troops. Eve thought.

Eve turned and ran back onto the corridor path towards the stairs. As she reached the stairs, she stopped abruptly as if something had startled her. She could hear continuous thud noises. Eve slowly crept up the stairs. The thud noises got louder as she climbed higher.

Then, when Eve was about fifteen feet from the top of the stairs, a section of the floor began to lift up like a trapdoor. As soon as the door was open, the thud noises were revealed to be gunfire and blast fire. Eve raised her battle rifle and ran up the steps. A large room was visible at the top.

"Get the hell outta my armoury, ya' split lip bastards… Oh, no!" a soldier shouted.

Eve ran up the last four steps into the room The room had two large tables with silver coloured walls. There were six large rectangular shaped, gold coloured sections of the wall scattered around the room. They had several had several small numbered buttons on them. Behind these sections of the walls were weapons and the sections would open when someone typed in a code. It was an armoury. There was a doorway leading out of the armoury into another room with several platforms along both walls and path going through the walls leading onto the platforms.

However, there was a dead soldier's body lying on the floor behind one of the tables. Blood had been splattered onto the back wall. There were two minor Elites standing in the room's doorway. They spotted Eve and fired on her. Eve ducked back down behind the door, narrowly missing the blasts as they hit the wall behind her.

Eve rose up and fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle at the Elites. The bullets broke through one of the creatures' shields and cut through the chest's insides as if they made of paper, killing the Elite. The other Elite growled and pulled out a plasma grenade. It lit the deadly device and threw it at Eve, who saw it coming and smacked it back at the Elite with her battle rifle. The Elite dived out of the way as the grenade hit the floor.

BOOM! The grenade exploded. Eve stepped off of the top stair onto the floor of the armoury, her battle rifle raised in case any more Covenant showed up.

"DIE DEMON!"

Eve dived behind the table as the Elite that threw the grenade charged out from the path that went into the wall on the right. It fired a barrage of light blue blasts at Eve. All missed, wither hitting the floor or the wall.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she straightened herself up against the side of the table. The Elite's blasts were hitting the table, causing it to rock slightly. Eve looked down beside her. She was sitting next to the dead soldier's body. He was bleeding from his head. The blasts had killed him outright. Eve gripped her battle rifle tighter, anger building up inside her.

All of a sudden, like someone had flicked a switch, the blasts stopped. The Elite walked towards the table, It's plasma rifle raised and finger itching on the trigger. It was going to kill the demon enemy. The one who had killed hundreds of Covenant soldiers, destroyed many of their ships and, worst of all, destroyed the Sacred Ring.

The Elite was now ten feet from the table. It was ready to kill Eve, destroying the human's last powerful defence weapon and allow the Covenant fleet to break through to Earth. Now the Elite was just six feet from the table. It's finger itched on the trigger. The Elite finally jumped to the side of the table and fired. Huh? Where was Eve? All the Elite could see was the dead soldier he and his comrade had killed moments earlier.

BANG! Eve had snuck around the table until she was on the front of it. She then rose up and fired a bust of ammo at the Elite's head. The alien fell forward onto It's knees before falling forward onto the floor, dead.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up. That was a close call. Now she could continue her search for the bomb, if the Covenant had brought one to the station.

Eve ran through the armoury doorway into the large room. The room was much like the one she, John and the squad had entered earlier on the way to the first hanger, only there was no walkway in this room or any other UNSC soldiers.

Eve scanned the room, her battle rifle raised. It seemed empty. There were no Covenant. Looks like those two Elites had gone too far ahead of the rest of the boarding party. Better get mo-

"DEMON! BAD GUY! KILL!" a high pitched voice screamed.

Eve sprinted into the path that led into the wall, narrowly missing two light green blasts as they shot past her into the armoury. They hit the wall and fizzed away. Eve breathed a sigh of relief and moved along the side of the wall to the doorway that led out onto the platform. She peeked her head out from behind the wall. Three minor Grunts were standing on the platform opposite the one Eve was at. They were armed with plasma pistols. At the moment, the Covenant soldiers were too busy aiming their weapons around the armoury's doorway, hoping to get Eve.

Eve smiled.

This should be easy. she thought as she raised her battle rifle.

Eve picked her target as the nearest Grunt. She aimed at it. She let out a shallow breath and pulled the trigger.

A yell echoed out into the room as one of the Grunts flipped backwards onto the platform's floor, dead. The other two Grunts immediately turned and fled through the opening into the path in the wall.

Eve ran out onto the platform. Amazingly, she jumped off of the platform's floor, over the glass on the sides and onto the floor of the other platform. She then ran through the opening into the path in the wall. The two Grunts were near the right exit. Eve raised her battle rifle and fired two bursts of ammo at the aliens, killing both of them.

After killing the Grunts, Eve ran right down the path towards a large open doorway on the left wall at the other end of the room. When she reached it, she raised her battle rifle again and scanned the area in front of her. There was a small rectangular shaped room which had several blast doors on the back and right walls. There was a small corridor leading left towards… Well, whatever was down there. A pile of burning rubble was lying in one corner of the room. Several bodies of UNSC soldiers were also lying scattered across the floor. It was obvious the Covenant squad had killed the soldiers before attacking the armoury. Eve sighed. That was another squad of brave troops dead.

Eve ran into the room and turned left down the corridor. She ran down the corridor, suddenly skidding to a halt next to a ladder. On the wall above the ladder was a sign saying Hazmat locker room. Eve smiled. It would take ages to find the bomb if she stayed inside the platform, so it was time se went into space itself.

Eve stepped onto one of the ladder's steps and began to climb down. Step-by-step, Eve descended further down the hole. When she was about ten steps from the bottom of the ladder, Eve could see several lockers standing against the wall. Eve let go of the ladder and landed feet first on a metal floor. She walked over to one of the lockers and opened it. A bulky hazmat suit was hanging up on a peg. Eve grabbed the suit, undid the zip along the back and stepped inside it. Her arms, legs and neck fought their way through the holes into the correct position. Eve then zipped up the suit and checked to make sure it was fully closed. If the suit was open even slightly, she would die in just seconds out in the vacuum of space.

Eve walked down the line of lockers to a large blast door at the other end of the room. As she reached it, she saw another blast door about fifteen feet from the one in front of her. On the wall next to the door was a small red button on a control pad. Eve pressed the button. A large whirring sound filled the room as the blast door in front of her opened up. Eve stepped through the doorway towards the second blast door. The blast door behind Eve closed, securing the locker room and stopping anything from being sucked out into the vacuum of space.

Eve suddenly flew forward. The second blast door had shot open in the blink of an eye. Eve was sucked out into the vacuum of space like a vacuum cleaner sucking up a day's dirt from a floor. Eve flew through space. She gazed in awe at Earth far off ahead of her, then at the thousands of stars scattered around in space. Next to the sun, they lit up space like thousands of fireflies.

Suddenly, Eve began falling towards the metal surface of the Cairo as if some invisible hand was pulling her down. Orbital defence platforms had artificial gravity so any workers or soldiers on the station's outside surface would not float off into space. Eve's feet landed lightly on the Cairo's surface. They made almost no sound. The orbital defence platforms also had artificial sound on their outer surface. Although this type of technology had been invented at least a century and a half earlier, it was still hard trying to make the artificial sound act like it normally would inside the station for workers and soldiers when they were outside the station.

Eve walked across the surface of the Cairo. She held her battle rifle up so the top of it was resting against her shoulder. She gazed up into space. Covenant ships and UNSC ships were just visible engaging each other. Eve then gazed at space around the Cairo. More UNSC ships were flying up towards the battle. There was at least twenty of them. Eve wondered how many of them were coming back.

A sudden BOOM, which caused her to float several feet from the surface of the Cairo, drew Eve's attention to her right. The enormous MAC cannon had fired a shot. The lights along It's side had turned red. Then, in the blink of an eye, they changed from red to green. BOOM! The MAC cannon fired another shot, throwing Eve several feet above the surface of the platform again.

Eve snapped out of her trance of searching space when she realised why she had come out here. The bomb. She did not know how much time was left until it went off. If the device went off, the Cairo would be destroyed. Eve, Auto, Hood and the many other hundreds, if not thousands of soldiers and workers would be killed. What was worse, with the Malta and the Athens gone, if the Cairo was destroyed then the Covenant would have a clear shot of attacking Earth itself.

Eve went to head off towards the MAC cannon. If the bomb was anywhere on the platform, it would most likely be somewhere near the main weapon.

Suddenly, Eve fell face down onto the Cairo's surface. She turned over and looked at her leg. There was a small mark on the hazmat suit's leg. Thank God it had not been torn. Eve looked up into space. A large figure was hovering several metres above her. It had light blue armour on, a jetpack on It's back and was holding a plasma rifle. It was an Elite. There was also something over the creature's mouth, most likely something to allow it to breath in space and zero atmosphere conditions.

The Elite fired another barrage of blue blasts at Eve, who managed to dodge them by jumping up and running towards the MAC cannon as fast as she could. Eve could hear the blasts going off, though they were mostly faint. She was suddenly launched up into space again when the MAC cannon fired another shot. Eve heard that clearly, and was probably the only thing she would hear properly outside the station.

The Elite fired at Eve again. Most of the blasts missed since Eve was still several metres above the surface of the Cairo. Eve turned and fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle at the Elite, hitting it in the chest. The bullets broke through the shield but failed to kill the creature. The Elite retaliated by firing a blast at Eve, which she narrowly avoided by diving to her side.

Eve got up and fired another burst of ammo at the Elite. The bullets tore right through the Elite's chest, killing it. The body fell onto the surface of the platform, dead.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she lowered her battle rifle. Now she could continue her search for the bomb without any interference.

Suddenly, her ear radio crackled to life.

"This is fleet admiral Martinez to the Cairo! Can anyone hear me, over?" a voice asked.

"Roger, admiral," came Hood's voice. "What's happening?"

"The carriers are breaking through our defence line, sir!" the admiral replied. "Their heading straight for the Cairo!"

Eve gasped and looked up into space. Thousands of kilometres above the Cairo was the front of a Covenant assault carrier. The admiral was right! It was coming down, heading straight for the Cairo!

"Auto, concentrate the MAC cannon's fire on the first carrier," Hood ordered. "Admiral, do what you can against the second,"

"Everyone! Form up and follow my lead!" the admiral replied.

Eve looked up and watched in horror as the Covenant assault carrier got closer and closer to the Cairo. Even though it was over a thousand kilometres away, the station began to shake wildly. Eve closed her eyes and waited for the blast that would surely tear the station into millions of pieces. Eve could only just imagine it now. The station exploding, hundreds of bodies being thrown into space like toys and the Covenant ship heading straight for Earth.

The end never came.

Eve opened her eyes. She gasped as the enormous assault carrier flew right past the Cairo, causing the station to shake uncontrollably. Eve was even lifted several feet above the surface of the platform for a few seconds. Finally, the carrier had passed the platform. The shaking stopped abruptly.

Eve's ear radio crackled to life just as the shaking stopped.

"The first carrier completely ignored us, sir," came Auto's voice. "Blew through the Malta's debris field and headed straight for Earth!"

Eve ran over to the edge of the platform and looked down. Thousands of kilometres below was Earth. She could see the assault carrier get smaller with every passing second as it drew closer to Earth. Within a few seconds, the carrier had disappeared. Eve could only imagine the terror that was probably taking place on Earth now that a Covenant ship was heading towards the planet.

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life once again.

"Sir," came Auto's voice. "We've just received word from a group of marines near the weapons production centre. The Covenant have the bomb there."

"Can you defuse it?" came Hood's voice.

"Yes, but I'll need Eve in order to make contact with the detonator." Auto replied.

"Eve, get to the bomb double time!" Hood ordered.

"Eve, if you can hear me, head towards the MAC cannon," Auto said. "I'll meet you there,"

Eve turned and ran towards the MAC cannon. She was thrown into space several times as the massive weapon fired up at the Covenant ships but, after a few minutes, she reached it. There was a large blast door on the wall at the bottom of the MAC cannon. It opened as Eve approached it. She walked through the doorway into the room on the other side.

Eve found herself on some large platform with several boxes scattered around it. There was a small control panel at the other end of the platform. Eve scanned her surroundings. The room she was in was actually some kind of large tunnel that went diagonally up left. At the top was the edge of another room. On the tunnel's bottom surface were large trenches in the floor, most likely to allow the platform to move up the tunnel.

Eve walked across the platform towards the control panel. She rested her hand on a small scanning device as she reached it. A loud sound that sounded like something unlocking itself was heard. The platform jolted slightly as it began to move up the tunnel towards the top.

Eve reached onto her back and undid the zip on her hazmat suit. She freed her arms and legs and stepped out of the suit as it fell onto the platform's floor.

BOOM! Eve dived behind one of the boxes, dropping her battle rifle on the platform floor, as a blue explosion lit up the tunnel. Eve looked up and saw another Elite with a jetpack floating down towards her. In It's hands were not one, but two plasma rifles. The Elite spotted Eve and fired at her. The blasts hit the crate, causing it to rock wildly. Eve was worried it might break apart. Thankfully, it did not.

However, it did do one thing. One of the blasts hit a control pad on the side of the box, causing the contents inside to spill out onto the floor in front of Eve. They were a mixture of fragmentation grenades, ammo clips and, this brought a smile to Eve's face, smoke grenades. Smoke grenades were still much like the old 21st century ones. However, this time they did not only cover a large area with a thick cloud of smoke, but they could also knock out anyone within the cloud if the smoke was breathed in. This gave Eve an idea.

BANG! The box flew over the edge of the platform and disappeared from sight. Eve gasped and looked up at the Elite, who had kicked the box away. The Elite laughed, though it was slightly muffled by the thing over It's mouth, and aimed It's plasma rifles down at Eve. It was time to kill the demon who had killed hundreds of Covenant troops, who had brought shame on the Covenant but, worst of all, had destroyed the Sacred Ring.

However, Eve was too quick for the Elite. In the blink of an eye, Eve swung her leg into the Elites', causing it to fall flat on It's face. Eve then pulled the pin off the smoke grenade, dropped it on the floor and ran away as fast as she could. Just a second later, a puff was heard. Eve looked over her shoulder to see a thick cloud of white smoke engulf the confused, and now probably furious, Elite. Within a few seconds, the cloud of smoke had now engulfed most of the platform. Several blasts flew out from the cloud, followed by yells from the Elite. Now that it was panicking, Eve could carry out the rest of her idea.

Eve ran over to the hazmat suit and picked it up. She then ran towards the cloud of smoke, exhaling deeply. If she inhaled even one little breath of the smoke, she would be knocked out. If that happened then she would be dead, along with everyone else on the station.

Eve ran into the cloud of smoke. No wonder the Elite was panicking, she could barely see more than a foot in front of her. She had to find the Elite quickly. Her lungs were already beginning to scream for air. Eve frantically scanned her surroundings. She spotted it. The Elite was frantically looking around as well. Wasting no time, Eve charged towards the Elite, threw the hazmat suit over it and then grabbed the creature and began pushing it, hopefully, in the direction of the edge of the platform. The Elite began shouting and tried to stop whatever was happening, but to no avail. Eve and the Elite finally emerged out of the smoke cloud just inches from the edge of the platform. Using all her strength, Eve pushed the Elite over the edge. She watched as the creature plummeted down towards the bottom of the tunnel. A loud THUD echoed throughout the tunnel as the Elite hit the floor.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief, relieving her lungs. That was a close call. Now all she had to was find the bomb. Auto said it was in the weapons production centres. They were just several floors below the bottom of the MAC cannon tower, so that was where they had to go next. All she had to do was meet up with Auto.

The platform jolted again. Eve turned and saw that the platform had stopped on the edge of a large room. Several dead Grunts, Elites and UNSC marines were lying scattered across the floor. Eve ran over to her battle rifle and picked it up. She did not know if anymore Covenant were in this area.

Eve raised her battle rifle and walked off of the platform. There was a large blast door on the wall opposite the platform. Above were the words MAC cannon control. Eve ran towards the blast door. Just as she reached it, the door shot open. A young UNSC soldier was standing there. He yelled and fell over as he suddenly saw Eve in front of him.

"Eve!" he exclaimed, relieved.

"Sorry," Eve replied as she helped the soldier up. "Is Auto up here?" she asked the soldier.

"Yeah," the soldier answered. "He's in the MAC cannon control. I'll take you to him,"

The soldier turned and ran towards a flight of steps several metres behind him; Eve followed. The two ran up the flight of stairs and turned right down a corridor when they reached the top. A small door at the end of the corridor opened as they approached it.

The two were revealed with a large room that had control panels along It's side and was filled with workers. In the middle of the room was a large block shaped computer panel about seven feet tall and ten feet long. A small cylindrical panel was on the floor next to it. Auto's seven inch high avatar was standing out of the top of the panel, talking to a worker.

"Auto!" Eve exclaimed, running over to the panel.

"Eve," Auto replied, facing Eve. "It's good to see you. Now we can get rid of the bomb."

"Problem is; how do we get down to it?" Eve asked.

"There's an elevator over there," the worker answered, pointing over to an elevator door on the wall where the entrance was to the room was. "It'll take you down straight to the weapons production centre."

"Alright, let's go," Auto piped up.

The worker nodded and pressed a button on the side of the panel. Auto's avatar immediately disappeared. The top of the panel then opened up. A small data cord rose up out of the object. The worker took it and handed it to Eve, who placed the data cord on her suit's shoulder. The data cord just laid there for a few moments before it sank into Eve's suit like quicksand.

"It's good to back here," Auto said.

"Good luck," the worker said to Eve, who replied with a nod.

Eve turned and walked over to the elevator. On the wall next to the door was a scanning device. Eve rested her hand on the device. The doors opened, revealing a small square shaped room on the other side. Eve stepped into the elevator. The doors closed. The room jolted slightly as it descended towards the bottom of the MAC cannon.

Eve checked her battle rifle to make sure it was loaded.

"I guess the Covenant will have troops defending the bomb," Eve said.

"They do," Auto replied. "The Covenant have two major Elites guarding the bomb so you may need to get creative,"

The elevator jolted slightly. Eve breathed in and raised her battle rifle. As soon as those doors opened, all hell would break loose.

The doors opened. Eve dived forward and fired a burst of ammo.

What the…? The room was empty. Eve and Auto could not believe. The Covenant were supposed to be here protecting the bomb. It was like they had just packed up and left it to explode. Then again, that's probably what they did when they destroyed the Athens and the Malta. But the only problem now was; Where was the bomb?

Eve scanned the room for the deadly device. The room was a rectangle shape with a railing going along each wall. Scattered on or underneath the railings were boxes,, most likely filled with newly made weapons. There was a large machine that took up much of the middle of the room. It was split into three sections. The bottom section was a horseshoe-like shape. Along the top were treadmills that would move, like those would do at an airport, to bring out newly made weapons. The second section was in the gap between the treadmills. It was a large rectangular shaped block that built the weapons and got rid of any old ones. The third and final section was a small square shaped block resting on top of the rectangular block. This was the control centre for the machine. It kept it running and disposed of the remains of destroyed weapons. On the wall in front of the machine was a large window that showed a clear view of Earth.

Suddenly, the room began to shake violently. Eve had to grab onto the side of the machine so she would not lose her balance. She looked up at the window and saw another Covenant assault carrier flying down towards Earth. That was two that had managed to break through. Eve wondered if any more had reached Earth and were probably wreaking havoc on the surface below.

A loud CLANG caught Eve's attention. It came from the direction of the window. Eve looked towards the window. On the floor was a large egg shaped object about six feet long. Coming out of all sides were dozens of huge and thick spikes. On the top of the bomb was a small blinking red light. An electrical charging sound filled the room. Eve gasped. The bomb was preparing to explode.

Eve threw her battle rifle on the ground and ran over to the bomb as fast as she could. The charging was beginning to get louder and higher pitched. Eve had just seconds to deactivate it. Without thinking, she dived forward and stretched out her hand. She had to disable to the bomb. If she failed, then the Cairo would be destroyed. Just a few more inches.

YES! Eve's hand slammed down on the detonator. At once, the charging sound faded. A small beep followed. The light then changed from red to blue. Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up.

"That was close," she breathed. "How much time was left?"

"You don't want to know," Auto replied.

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"Cairo," came a female's voice. Eve recognized it as Mary's. "This is Amber Clad. The carrier's shield is down. I'm in position and ready for immediate assault."

"Negative, commander," came Hood's voice. "Not against a ship that size. Not on your own,"

Eve sighed. The carriers were probably heading straight for the surface. Something had to be done. If nothing was then hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people could die. There just had to b-… wait a minute.

Eve looked back at the bomb. If it had the power to destroy a UNSC orbital defence platform, then it surely have the capability to annihilate a Covenant assault carrier.

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"Lord Hood," she said. "Permission to leave the station."

"For what purpose, Eve?" Hood asked.

"To give the Covenant back their bomb." Eve answered.

Hood went silent for a few seconds. It was a good idea, but it was also very risky. Eve could even be killed if this idea went wrong. Finally, Hood replied.

"Permission granted,"

Eve lowered her hand and turned to face the bomb. She grabbed two of the spikes on the top and, with all her strength, began pulling the device towards the pathway on the other side of the machine. It was hard work as the bomb weighed almost half a ton. Sparks even flew straight form the spikes on the bottom of the bomb as they scrapped across the metal floor. Eve prayed that these sparks would not set the bomb alight. If they did, then it was the end for everyone on the Cairo.

Finally, Eve managed to get the bomb into the pathway. On the wall at the end were the doors that led to an elevator. Relieved, Eve grabbed the spikes again and began pulling the bomb towards the elevator. As she reached it, she had to force the bomb through the doors because two spikes got stuck. Eve then stepped inside the elevator and pressed the down button on a pad on the wall.

The elevator jolted slightly as it began to descend. Eve's destination was a long sword fighter bay.

"I know what your thinking, Eve," Auto said. "It's crazy,"

"So you think we should stay here," Eve replied.

Auto sighed. It was a crazy idea, but it could not be any more crazy than staying on the Cairo.

"Unfortunately, for us both, I like it crazy," Auto said.

The elevator jolted again. The doors opened, revealing a large square shaped room with several metal pillars extending from the floor up to the ceiling. On the front wall of the room was a large blast door that led out into space.

Eve grabbed the spikes and dragged the bomb out of the elevator into the long sword fighter bay. She left the device next to a pillar and looked out through the window. As usual, Earth could be seen. However, this time a lot of UNSC ships were flying down towards it. They were most likely chasing the Covenant assault carriers. Hopefully, they had managed to destroy at least one of them.

Eve walked over to the back wall, where there were some lockers. She opened them. Inside were hazmat suits. Eve grabbed one and walked back over to the pillar the bomb was next to. On the pillar was a set of controls One large red switch was for opening the hanger bay's door. Eve quickly got inside the suit, zipped it up and pulled the switch. Another switch lifted up out of the pillar. Eve grabbed hold of the switch and pressed her back against the side of the pillar.

"Just one question, what if you miss?" Auto asked.

"I won't,"

Eve pulled the switch.

At once, the hanger began to shake slightly. The large blast doors opened. Everything that was loose in the hanger was immediately sucked out into space as if a vacuum cleaner was outside the station in space.

A scraping sound filled the room. Eve looked down at the bomb and saw it move a little. SCRAPE! It moved again, this time a little more. Eve held her hand out ready to grab the spikes when the device passed. SCRAPE! The bomb was now moving straight towards the open doors. Eve grabbed one of the spikes. Just as she did, the bomb was lifted off of the floor and pulled out into space like when a garbage man would throw a bag of rubbish into a waiting truck.

Eve gasped as the bomb floated down away from the station towards Earth., the planet's gravity would eventually pull them close to Eve's target. Thousands of kilometres below was the continent of Africa surrounded almost completely by a beautiful crystal blue coloured sea. Eve could see the Sinai peninsula coming off of the top left corner of Africa and lead into the Middle East. To the north of the Africa she could also see Europe. If only this was not happening, then this would be a great moment in Eve's life. Looking down on her home planet from space.

Suddenly, a large shape flew out over Africa, blocking much of Eve's view of the land. It was a Covenant assault carrier. The enormous ship then dived forward slightly, heading straight down towards Africa. Eve went wide eyed. One ship had broken through to Earth. She had to stop it, but it was too far away. She would not reach it in time.

All of a sudden, another large shape flew out over Earth. Another Covenant assault carrier. This one was several hundred metres directly below Eve. This was it. Now all she had to do was find a way into the ship.

Suddenly, a purple light began to charge up on the surface of the carrier. Eve looked down at it and gasped. It was a laser, one of the main weapons of the carrier. One blast from that laser could tear a UNSC battleship in two.

Suddenly, the laser fired, filling the space around the ship with a light purple colour. BOOM! An explosion echoed throughout space. It came from above. Eve looked up and saw a UNSC battle cruiser in flames. The engines lit up and turned off repeatedly. The crew were most likely to be dead by now.

Anger filled Eve's heart. The attack on the ship just showed how merciless and evil the Covenant were. No matter what age or type of human they came across, they would kill him/her and go on as if nothing ever happened. It was payback time.

VROM! VROM! Two long sword fighters dived past Eve towards the carrier. When they were about two hundred metres above it, they flew straight before turning up back into space again. Eve looked down and saw several explosions erupt on the top of the ship. Though they were small, it did a lot of damage. A large hole was left in the impact site. Eve and the bomb flew right through it into the assault carrier.

Eve gasped. Around her was a enormous wide open space that must have been miles wide and long. Just looking at it made you think you could fit the whole of New York in here. Far off ahead, to the sides and behind her were the dark purple walls of the inside of the assault carrier. To the far left, probably several miles away, were two large flat circle shaped platforms. One was connected to the floor of the inside of the carrier, the other was connected to the ceiling of the inside of the carrier. Between the two was a big ball of white energy. From Eve's point of view, it looked like a new world being created.

Eve looked around her, hoping to find a way out of the carrier. She found it. Far below was a small opening which separated the lower front section and the bottom front eagle-like section of the ship. Good. She had found a way out. Now it was time to teach the Covenant a lesson.

Eve grabbed the spikes and pulled herself forward towards the detonator. When she reached it, she rested her hand over the light. A beep emitted from the bomb, followed by the light changing from blue to a blinking red colour. Eve then turned, bent her legs low and, as hard as she could, pushed herself off of the bomb towards the opening.

As Eve emerged from the assault carrier, she could see the first Covenant ship slowly getting smaller and smaller. She would have to deal with that ship later when she would land on Earth. But what of the other assault carrier? Eve looked back up at it. The ship was still fully intact. Eve began to panic. Had the bomb failed to explode, or had the Covenant somehow managed to disab-

BOOM! An explosion lit up space. This time, it was a dark blue/purple colour. Eve watched as the middle of the Covenant assault carrier broke in two. More explosions erupted from the two sections of the carrier. Eve breathed a sigh of relief. She felt as if she had saved mankind from certain annihilation. If only destroying the carrier would lead to that. However, this was just one carrier. The Covenant had many more where they came from.

With the carrier destroyed, Eve now had to try and find a way down to Earth. Far below her was a small UNSC frigate that had a long rectangular-like section which held the bridge, hangers and hospital. There were two smaller rectangular-like sections coming off both sides of the long rectangular section. They held the engines and ship's power supply. At the front of the long rectangular section was a large silo. That was the ship's main cannon. This frigate the was the Amber Clad. The one Mary and Johnson were aboard. Hopefully, they had spotted Eve on their radar and were slowing down to allow her to board the ship.

WHAM! Eve felt great pain on her stomach as she flew across space on the front of a large object. The impact knocked her out for a few seconds. Eve groggily opened her eyes to see that the object that had hit her was a Covenant Seraph fighter. Behind it were two long sword fighters.

Suddenly, one of the long sword fighters fired a missile at the seraph fighter. Eve gasped but before she could react…

BOOM! The missile exploded on the back of the Covenant fighter. It began to spin out of control. The pilot was desperately trying to keep it airborne. Finally, the seraph lot all power and headed straight towards Earth.

Eve closed her eyes and prayed she would survive the crash when it would come


	8. Jungle warfare

**Ten minutes later**

Earth. The home world of the human race. Earth natural beauty still remained. Since the time of the industrial age in the 1700's, mankind had destroyed much of the natural beauty Earth had on It's surface. Luckily, by the time the 22nd century came upon Earth, colonization of other planets was underway. Also, people showed more sympathy for Earth's nature as it allowed them to live on the planet in the first place and it has more devastating effects than humans themselves.

The jungles of Earth were still as large as they had been centuries earlier. Tourist attractions sites had been built to allow people to see life deep in the jungle and to explore the ruins of civilizations that had come and gone hundreds of years earlier. In the jungles themselves, all life carried their normal daily activities.

However, for one there was going to be a big difference. High in the sky above the jungle was a fireball. As it got closer to Earth's surface it was revealed to be the knocked out seraph fighter. It was zooming towards Earth with terrifying speed. It was going so fast that a trail of thick smoke was being left in the air.

CRASH! The seraph fighter smashed through the tree canopy. Branches the size of a human hand to ones that could crush entire cars were easily broken off the trees as the craft to the jungle floor below. After a few seconds, a loud grinding THUD echoed throughout the air. The fighter had hit the ground with a force like someone diving from a high cliff to the ground. It did not look like anyone could survive a crash like that.

Suddenly, a stir erupted from the crash site. A figure in a hazmat stood up from the back of the craft. It was Eve.

The hazmat suit had been torn slightly in the crash.. Eve wasted no time in pulling it off her and throwing on the seraph fighter.

"You okay?" Auto asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Eve replied. She scanned the surroundings. "Where are we?"

"Hang on," Auto said. "I'm scanning the path we went through in space. The trajectory of the fighter going into the atmosphere. What the hell? We're in the jungles of Central America."

"Your kidding, right?" Eve asked, hoping that he was.

"Nope," Auto replied. "I've calculated the trajectory and everything. We're definitely in Central America. About half a mile south of Tikal,"

"Oh, well that's great!" Eve said angrily. "We're over four thousand miles from where John and Mary are and probably days' worth of travelling away from any UNSC!"

Auto sighed.

"It could have been worse," he said, trying to calm Eve down a bit. "We could have ended up in the Atlantic,"

"Yeah, I guess," Eve replied, heaving a heavy sigh. "It's just really annoying that the Covenant assault carrier is most likely over New Mombassa right now and we're on the other side of the world and have no way of helping the UNSC,"

"We'll find a way to get back over there," Auto told Eve. "Right now, we should just try and find a way out of the jungle. You better take the pilot's weapon,"

Eve nodded and walked around the cog pit hatch to the front of the fighter. She grabbed the hatch and lifted it up. Eve shuddered as she saw the cog pit covered with dark blue blood over the walls, floor, controls. There was even a big slap of it on the hatch just a few inches from her head. Two dead Grunts laid dead on the floor, having been killed directly on impact in the crash. Next to them was a plasma pistol.

Eve reached in and picked up the plasma pistol. She then jumped off the fighter onto the ground.

"Which way do we go?" Eve asked.

"Go straight ahead," Auto replied. "Tikal's about eight hundred metres ahead of us."

Eve walked into the jungle, quickly disappearing into It's depths. She kept the plasma pistol close in case there was anyone, or anything, in the jungle that might try and attack her. Her boots made a crunching on the leaves as she walked over them. The jungle wildlife could be heard above her. A few colourful birds took off from the branches as a monkey swung through the branches, quickly disappearing into the undergrowth that covered the branches.

"So, what did Hood say about Halo?" Eve asked Auto after several minutes of silence.

"He asked me how we got there to start," Auto replied. "Then he asked me about McCrea and the crew of the Axiom and he told me John survived."

"Did he ask anything about…" Eve said but Auto cut her off.

"Yes, he did ask me about Wally. He said someone out of your squad saw you and him on top of the tower in the jungle on Halo,"

"What did you tell him?" Eve inquired.

"I said there was no one with us," Auto answered. "What about you?"

"I told John about Wally," Eve answered.

"And what did he say?"

"He forgot about it quite quickly, at least that's what I think, because of the awards ceremony. Unless he somehow remembers, you and me are the only ones who know about him,"

Auto sighed.

"It's just best if no one here knew about Wally," he said. "In case the Covenant capture someone and they tell them about the monitors."

_"KZK… This is Delta… KZK… Tikal. Can anyone hear me, over?"_ a voice said from Eve's ear radio.

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"This is Eve," she said. "Are you alright?"

_"Oh, Eve!"_ the voice replied. _"Thank God you're here. We're in Tikal at the moment but the Covenant are in the jungle all around us. We've got wounded and a few civilians here. We need your help!"_

"Okay, I'm on my way. Just hang on!" Eve said.

Eve lowered her hand and ran further into the jungle. She had to get to Tikal quickly! The bad thing about this was that there were civilians and wounded with the soldier, or soldiers, in the city. If the Covenant got to them, they would stand no chance at all.

As Eve jumped over a fallen log, a figure hiding up in a tree about thirty feet ahead spotted her. It raised a long metal weapon in It's hand and fired a purple laser.

"DUCK!" Auto yelled.

Eve dived to the ground, only just missing the laser as it hit the ground, setting fire to a small leaf which went out quickly. Eve crawled forward behind a tree and stood up, resting her back against the bark. She breathed heavily in relief after avoiding a laser that could have killed her.

"What the hell was that?" she asked.

"Something up in the trees," Auto replied. "About fifteen feet ahead of us,"

Eve breathed in and peeked her head out from behind the tree, only to hide behind it again as another laser ripped of a large chunk of bark.

"It's a sniper," Eve whispered.

"Wait a minute, I've just thought of something," Auto said. "What the hell are the Covenant doing in Central America? I thought they would most likely go for the cities and army bases, but why here. There's nothing in this area,"

"Whatever it is, we'll find out soon enough," Eve replied, holding her down on the trigger of the plasma pistol.

A light green coloured filled Eve's bodysuit as the plasma pistol charged up a shot. Eve had to kill this sniper quickly. If she did not, then the soldiers at Tikal would be overwhelmed. Eve breathed in and prayed this would work.

The figure up in the tree growled slightly as it aimed down the scope of his gun. Where was Eve? It wanted to kill her and gain It's first score of the day. Hey, there's a green light by that tree! The figure moved the scope at the tree where it saw the green light. Just as it did…

SMASH! The green light smashed right up the scope and hit the figure in the face. The figure let out a low groan before it fell backwards off of the branch and onto the ground, dead. Eve peeked her head out from behind the tree. She saw the weapon the figure was holding hit the ground. She smiled. That was one less enemy to deal with.

Eve ran out from behind the tree over to the dead body. The figure was a Jackal with a grey vest over It's chest and some kind of armour over It's arms and legs. The weapon the Jackal had been using was about five feet long, a silver/purple colour and shaped kind of like a spire. Only, the front end had a small silo for where the laser would fire out of and the back end had two small sections with a short grappling part between them. Down both sides of the rifle was a small thin purple line which separated the rifle into a top section and lower section, but also connected them together. Near the back of the rifle was a small circle which would turn when a shot was fired. This weapon was usually called the Type-50 sniper rifle by the UNSC scientists. The soldiers usually called it the Beam Rifle, mainly because when fired it left a purple beam in the air for a few seconds. However, some UNSC soldiers, Eve one of them, nicknamed the rifle 'Death's Eye' because when one was around, it always watched you and it could fire and then disappear before you even had a chance to look where the shot came from.

She had learned about these weapons during the training on Reach. One of the weapon demonstrators had said the best way to find out when a Covenant soldier had one of these rifles was "As soon as the first guy goes down with blood and steam whistling out through the neat new hole in their head, you know you're in for a long, miserable game of 'where the foxtrot did that come from.'"

Eve snapped back into reality when she remembered the group of soldiers she had to rescue in the Tikal. Just as she got up, Eve picked up the beam rifle.

May be useful she thought.

Eve ran through the trees in the direction of Tikal. Hopefully, the squad would still be alive. As she went further into the jungle, she could hear…gunfire? Yes it was gunfire, and it was close. Eve ran faster through the trees, pushing branches and leaves out of her way. She suddenly emerged out of the jungle into a wide open area. However, this open area was dotted with buildings made entirely out of stone.

Eve gazed around the open area. This was Tikal. The first Maya city and the civilization's capitol. Although most of the buildings were still standing, nature had withered much of them away so it now partly looked like a war zone. At the other end of the open area was a tall temple which rose about 154ft off of the ground. The temple was built like a pyramid, only the top was not pointed, there were layers of stone leading up from the ground, each gradually getting smaller the higher the building went, and there was a stone staircase that went up the front of the temple to a large block-like shaped building at the top. This temple was known as the Temple of the Giant Jaguar. It was built by the Maya who were under the rule of Yikin Chan Kawiil, who wanted the temple to be built to show the Maya's great strength and to stand the test of time.

A few metres right of Eve was another temple which looked just like the one at the other end of the open area, only it was not as high and did not have as many layers of stone. The rest of the buildings were scattered around the open area. Many of them were also temples, though they were much smaller and had only two or three layers of stone. There was one group of buildings, near the right edge of the open area, that made a square-like shape and had a courtyard between them and the side of a small hill. On the left end of the open area were two small temples that were in front of a hill that must have had a stone wall built around a clear area and then had earth filled into it. In the middle of the hill was another temple, behind a small stone pit, that had stone lead up another load of stone layers to a small building at the top which had a caved in ceiling. Next to this building was another temple, but must have been some kind of small tower or something because it only had one big layer of stone and on top of that layer was a tall building that had It's left side cave in.

Eve walked forward towards the temple at the back of the area. She had always been fascinated by old central American civilizations, especially the Maya. What she found so fascinating about them was that they built hundreds of cities all over this part of the continent and that they were experts in building temples that could show the direction of the stars and planets. However, what she found more fascinating was the fact that the civilization just disappeared. Even today with high advances in carbon dating technology, scientists, explorers and archaeologists were still unable to find out how this amazing civilization just vanished all of a sudden. Whether it was plague or mass starvation leading to fights among cities and cannibalism or the explorers from Europe coming to the 'New World' was still unknown and it probably may be a mystery mankind may never solve.

_"KZK! This is Delta squad two three! Eve, can you hear me?" _

Eve placed a finger on her ear radio.

"Affirmative," she said. "Where are you?"

_"We're in the main temple, near the back of this open area."_

"Alright, I'm just coming," Eve replied.

Eve lowered her hand and ran towards the main temple. When she reached it, she ran up the steps. If there was one thing she did not like about the Maya, it was that they had a lot of steps on their temples. Even though she had an athletic body and had run and climbed more in other places, she was worn out pretty quickly. Luckily, she was able to give her legs a break when she reached the top of the temple's stairs. Eve gazed around the layer she was on. Where we the soldiers? The building in front of her had a small doorway that was just slightly taller than her. Maybe they were in there.

"Eve?" a voice said from inside the building in front of her.

Eve looked through the doorway to see a young UNSC soldier standing there. In his hands were two M6C pistols.

"Oh, thank God you're here," he said. "The Covenant are everywhere in the jungle. We wanted to call for evac but we were worried that the Covenant had air patrols around here."

"Don't worry," Eve replied. "Go call for evac, I'll stay here with you guys until it arrives,"

The soldier nodded and ran back into the building. Eve turned so she was facing the open area again and kneeled down. She set her plasma pistol down on the floor and raised her beam rifle. If any Covenant were going to charge out of the jungle, she would snipe them down.

"How many Covenant do you think are in the jungle?" Auto asked her.

"My guess, hundreds," Eve answered. "Let's hope they all don't converge in this city."

A few moments passed before a group of four soldiers, including the one she Eve met, ran out of the building and took up positions along the top layer of the temple. Just four soldiers to defend… God knows how many civilians and wounded inside the temple.

"How many civilians and wounded do you have in the temple?" Eve asked a soldier next to her.

"About twenty," the soldier answered. "About fourteen civilians and six wounded. We've got two medics down there but we need to get everyone to a safe place,"

"Look!" another soldier exclaimed, pointing out into the jungle.

Eve looked over to where the soldier was pointing. At first, she could not see anything. Then, a large shape rose up from behind the trees. The object was a ship. It was shaped like a tripod's head with two large silver balls-like objects at the front. There was a top section and a bottom section. The top was a magenta colour. The bottom of the craft was a silver colour with loads of lights and a large circle in the middle of the bottom of the craft. There were two tail-like sections ticking out of the back of the craft. What, however, made the craft look so breathtaking was that it had three large cannons on the bottom of the craft as well. One at the front and two on the sides. It was obvious this craft was Covenant. These new type of craft had only been used for several months, but already it had earned the nickname 'Flying Death' by the UNSC. The craft was originally called Type 52 troop carrying transport. If it was not called that, then it was usually known as the Phantom.

The craft hovered in the air for a few seconds. Then, to the squad's horror, the craft flew over towards the temple. They could hear a whirring sound emitting from the craft, much like the noise that would emit from the Covenant drop ships Eve faced on Halo. When the craft was about sixty feet away, it fired a barrage of vivid red blasts at them. The squad dived to the stone layer floor for cover. One of the soldiers, however, was not quick enough. Two blasts hit him in the head and threw him to the floor, dead.

After a few seconds, the whirring sound filled the air once again. Eve looked up and saw the Covenant ship hover up into the air and fly away over the jungle, disappearing behind the trees. However, the craft had left a large squad of Covenant on the ground at the bottom of the temple. One major Elite, one minor Elite, four minor Grunts and three Jackals. All armed and ready to take this city. The major Elite roared and ran towards the steps leading up to the top layer. The rest of the Covenant squad followed.

"They're coming up the stairs!" Eve shouted to the squad.

Eve got up and fired a shot from her beam rifle down at the Covenant squad, who were about half-way up the stairs. She narrowly missed the major Elite but hit the minor Elite in the head, causing it to fall backwards onto an unlucky Grunt. Both tumbled down the stairs to the ground and lay still.

"Nice shot, Eve," one of the soldiers said as he fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle at another Grunt, killing it.

The major Elite growled and fired a barrage of blue blasts at the soldiers above him. One of them hit the young soldier in the arm, another tore into his leg. The soldier screamed in pain and fell to the floor. Another ran over to him and pulled him into the building, leaving Eve and another soldier on their own. Eve fired another shot from her beam rifle at the Covenant, breaking through the shields of one of the Jackals and hitting the creature in the head, killing it. Like the Elite and Grunt, the Jackal's body tumbled down the steps to the ground.

"LOOK OUT!" Auto suddenly yelled.

BOOM! A blue explosion lit up the sky, throwing Eve and the soldier to the floor. Eve groaned as she lifted herself up. A plasma grenade had exploded. Eve saw the soldier lying next to her. She pulled him over to her and placed two fingers on his pulse. He was dead.

"DEMON!" a voice roared.

Eve looked up towards the stairs, only to receive a kick in the chest by the foot of the major Elite. The impact winded Eve and caused her beam rifle to go flying over the edge of the layer to the ground far below. The Elite laughed and brought It's foot down on Eve's chest, winding her again. Eve gasped for breath. The Elite laughed again and aimed It's plasma rifle at her head. Eve went wide eyed as the Elite tightened It's grip on the trigger. It looked like Eve was a goner.

Suddenly, a burst of ammo threw the major to the floor. It came from inside the building. Eve looked through the building's doorway to see a soldier, who had pulled the young soldier into the building, standing there with his battle rifle. He fired another burst of ammo at the Elite just to make sure it was dead.

"You alright?" the soldier asked Eve as he ran over to her and helped her up.

"Yeah, thanks," Eve replied.

"Kill demon!" a high pitched voice growled.

A Grunt ran up onto the layer, a plasma pistol in It's hand. It was about to fire when the creature suddenly spotted the dead Elite lying on the ground. At once, the Grunt screamed and turned to run back down the steps, waving It's arms wildly about in the air.

"Leader dead!" it squeaked. "Run away! Run aw-AAAAH!"

The Grunt had stumbled on the first step and fell down the steps towards the other two Grunts and two Jackals. The Grunt hit one of the Jackals, who then fell down and hit the other two Grunts before hitting the other Jackal. The five Covenant soldiers tumbled down the steps and landed on the ground. They did not rise afterwards, most likely having broken their necks by the fall.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a close call," she said.

"Yeah, it was," the soldier replied. "Let's just hope evac get's here before more Covenant do,"

"Well fortune's smiled on us," Auto said through his com. "I've picked up a drop ship heading over here,"

"This is Bravo 312. Delta squad two three, are you still there, over?"

A whirring sound filled the air. Eve and the soldier looked ahead of them and saw a pelican flying towards Tikal. Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"This is Eve. I have Delta squad two three with me." she said. "They've got wounded and civilians here,"

"Roger that. We see you. We can take the wounded to a hospital."

The pelican flew over to the temple. When the craft reached the building, it turned, so the entrance was now facing the temple, and slowly descended until it was about seven feet above the floor. Two soldiers jumped off of he pelican and ran inside the building to get the wounded and civilians. The soldier that was with Eve joined them.

"Hop on, Eve," the pelican's pilot said. We'll need your help with the wounded,"

Eve climbed onto the pelican and waited. A few seconds later, several soldiers came out carrying wounded comrades and civilians. Some civilians were helping. The soldiers handed the wounded to Eve, who set them down on the seats lined along the sides of the pelican's resting area. After setting down the wounded, Eve helped the civilians, nine men, one who looked about eighteen and was carrying a hunting pistol, and five women. The three soldiers then climbed onto the pelican.

"Alright, hang on!" the pilot shouted through the open doorway from the cog pit.

The pelican slowly ascended into the air. When it was about fifteen feet above the top stone layer, the craft turned right and flew forward over the trees of the surrounding jungle. Eve watched as Tikal disappeared behind the sea of green. Hopefully, they would be safe.

As Eve turned, the young boy with the pistol reached into his jean pocket and took out a shiny, sharp silver coloured object the size of the palm of his hand. It had strange markings engraved in it. Eve saw the object and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder, causing him to jump ant turn to face her.

"Sorry," Eve said. "What is that?"

"It's a shiny metal object," the boy replied.

He spoke with a slightly strong Mexican accent. Luckily, Eve could just understand him.

"Can I see it?" Eve asked.

The boy nodded and dropped the object into her hand. Eve took it between her fingers and examined it. She saw the markings engraved around the sides. It was then she realised she had seen them before. They were the same markings engraved on the walls and floors of the structures on Halo and even on Wally's bodysuit. This metal object was Forerunner. Her eyes went wide with shock and anxiety.

"Is anything wrong?" the boy asked her, seeing her eyes go wide.

"Where did you get this?" Eve asked the boy.

"I found it on the floor of the room we were in back in the temple," the boy answered. "Why, is there or have I done something wrong?"

"No, no," Eve replied. "Everything's fine. I may need to keep this,"

"Sure, take it," the boy said.

Eve walked away from the boy towards the entrance of the pelican. She held it up in the sunlight. The light reflected off of the surface of the object and hit her suit's chest. The markings stretched across her chest. Eve gasped.

"You were right," Auto said. "This thing is Forerunner,"

"I think we now know why the Covenant are here in Central America," Eve replied. "But we need to know what type of Forerunner structure is it they're looking for,"

"Well, It's obviously not going to be good," Auto said. "But let's just hope we find it before they do,"


	9. Base Siege

**One hour later **

A long hour had passed since Eve and the survivors had been rescued from Tikal. The pilot had flown clear over northern Guatemala and was now in southern Mexico. It would usually have taken longer but the pilot wanted to hurry because of Covenant air patrols that may be lurking around in the skies and because of the wounded.

Eve had stood at the pelican's entrance for the whole journey. She had not said a word to anyone apart from Auto. She had given him the sharp metal Forerunner piece for safe keeping. It was now obvious that the Covenant were looking for something Forerunner. But what was it? And more importantly, was it a weapon? Halo was a Forerunner weapon. It had the power to destroy all life within a 25,000 light year range of the galaxy. If there was a weapon on Earth, it may have the power to destroy all life on the planet, or even the planet itself. Eve shuddered.

"Alright everyone," the pilot shouted down from the cog pit. "We're almost there."The pelican jolted slightly as it began to descend towards the ground. Eve watched as the trees got closer. It looked like they were growing higher to dwarf the height the pelican could go in the air.

The pelican stopped about twenty feet above an open area of the ground. Eve looked down and gasped as the ground opened up, revealing a long tunnel that went down about forty feet. At the bottom was a large square shaped platform near a blast door that led out of the tunnel. The pilot carefully positioned the pelican over the hole and descended into it. When the craft was about half-way down the tunnel the doors closed, darkening the tunnel for a brief second. Lights along the tunnel walls then turned on, eradicating the darkness and making the tunnel light again. The pelican was now about ten feet from the platform. It's landing gear unfolded and touched down on the platform when the pelican was about four feet above it, bringing the craft to a halt.

Eve got off the pelican first and helped some of the civilians off. The soldiers and some of the male civilians helped carry the wounded soldiers off of the pelican. When everyone was on the platform, a squad of marines ran out of the blast door onto the platform and took the wounded and placed them on stretchers the squad were carrying.

"You guys Delta squad two three?" he asked one of the soldiers, who nodded. "Good," he said, slightly relieved. "I'm glad some of you made it. Alright, we'll take the wounded. Civilians follow them to the shelter."

Eve watched as the soldiers led the civilians out of the tunnel and into a corridor on the other side of the blast door.

"You better come with me, Eve," the soldier said to her.

Eve nodded and followed the soldier off of the platform and into the corridor on the other side of the blast door. On the left side of the corridor was another corridor leading off. At the end of the corridor Eve and the solider were in was another blast door, which Eve managed to catch a glimpse of the group of civilians going through before it closed.

The soldier walked down the corridor; Eve followed. When the two were half-way down this corridor, they turned left into the next. This corridor was not as long as the previous one but it did end at a blast door and also had another corridor on the right wall lead off. Above it were the words Armoury. Eve followed the soldier down the corridor towards the blast door. When they reached it, the soldier rested his hand on the scanning device.

"General's waiting for you," he said to Eve. "I gotta head off to the armoury,"

"Thanks," Eve replied.

The soldier walked down the corridor towards the armoury. The blast door in front of Eve opened up. Eve walked through the doorway into a large circle shaped room. Along the bare brick walls were computer screens, computer panels for radar and base defences and shelves stacked with weapons. Soldiers and workers were scattered around the room, either talking in groups or working on either of the control panels. A man in a general's uniform at a nearby control panel saw Eve.

"Eve!" he exclaimed, walking up to her. He shook her hand when he reached her. "I'm glad you're here and well. Hood contacted us earlier and said you had gone missing. Everyone thought you were dead."

"No," Eve replied. "Me and Auto fell into the jungle near Tikal after we got hit by a Seraph fighter up in space. We fought our way to Tikal and waited until a pelican came and picked us up,"

"Sir!" a worker on a control panel at the other end of the room shouted. "We've picked up hostile forces in the jungle outside the base's walls."

"How many?" the general asked.

"Unknown, sir," the worker answered. "They're made up of both land and air forces,"

"Damn!" the general hissed. "Alright, looks like we're going to have to abandon the base. Where's the nearest UNSC ship?" he asked.

"The destroyer UNSC _Iroquois_ is stationed about six miles off the Pacific coast," another worker answered. "It's on It's way here to lend support. ETA twenty minutes," By that time, we'll be dead the general thought anxiously.

"Alright, Eve," he said, facing her. "I need you to help our troops. Hold off the enemy for as long as possible. Good luck,"

"Thank you, sir," Eve replied. "Oh, and you may want to take this,"

Eve placed the metal Forerunner piece in the general's hand. The general stared at it and then looked back up at Eve.

"Tell high command to keep it in a safe place," she said.

Before the general could ask what this thing was or why they had to keep it in a safe place, Eve turned and ran out of the room into the corridor. She ran right down the corridor towards a large blast door that led to the armoury. When Eve reached it, the door opened automatically. Eve ran through the doorway into the armoury, which a small square shaped room filled with shelves that were stacked to breaking point with weapons. There was another door on the opposite wall near the other end of the room. Eve walked up to a shelf and took a battle rifle that was placed between an MA5B assault rifle and an M6C pistol. She checked the gun to make sure it was loaded. It was.

"Do you think the Covenant are going to be looking for that metal Forerunner piece?" Auto asked her

"Probably," Eve answered.

Eve ran over to the door at the other end of the room. It opened automatically as she approached it. Eve was revealed with a wide rectangular shaped room with several bays going along both walls. Inside most of them were warthogs. However, some of these warthogs, instead of having the enormous machine gun, had a large flak cannon as the vehicle's weapon. This flak cannon would fire flak grenades faster than it takes a person to blink an eye! Because the grenade would go at the speed of a bullet, it would penetrate the skin like one then explode inside, killing anyone it hit. At the other end of the bay was a large blast door, most likely to be the exit out into the jungle. This would be the perfect place for the Covenant to break in.

There were three other soldiers in this bay. One was manning a deployable machine. The other two, one armed with a battle rifle and the other armed with a sniper rifle, were each taking cover behind a warthog. The soldier on the deployable machine gun turned to face the doorway as Eve entered the bay.

"Oh, Eve," he said. "Thank God you're here," "Are the Covenant heading in this direction?" Eve asked the soldier as she ran over to him.

"Most likely," the soldier answered. "This is the quickest way into the base and It's also the nearest entrance to the command centre,"

BANG! The two froze. Their eyes locked onto the door, which was where the bang came from. BANG! There it was again, only this time it was much harder. Eve slowly raised her battle rifle at the blast door. The soldier next to her manned the machine gun and kept his finger near the trigger. They were ready to drive off any Covenant that would charge-

SMASH! An almighty thud literally threw a large section of the blast door across the bay. It landed with a crash on one of the warthogs. A small cloud of dust filled the room around the hole in the door. Then out of the dust cloud, which had cleared, came the worst types of Covenant. Hunters.

Hunters were probably the most aggressive and most powerful members of the Covenant. They were at least twelve feet tall and had armour, that was like steel, over most of their body. What made them terrifying was that attached to one arm was a massive proton cannon and attached to the other arm was an enormous metal sword that could rip a man's body apart with just one swipe.

The Hunters walked into the bay, their massive feet causing the room to shake slightly. Suddenly, their proton cannons began to charge up. Eve knew what was going to happen.

"GET DOWN!" she screamed.

Eve and the soldiers dived to the floor. Just as they did, two green lasers shot over them and hit the wall. When they disappeared, there were two enormous holes in the concrete. Eve looked up at the Hunters. They obviously had a new upgrade to their cannon because when Eve fought them on Halo their cannons would fire plasma projectiles, not lasers. This upgrade would most likely be more deadly than the old plasma projectiles.

The Hunters began charging up their cannons for another blast. The soldier next to Eve saw this and manned his machine gun. The deployable machine chattered loudly as it fired a barrage of bullets at the two enormous creatures. One of the Hunters was hit repeatedly in the face and in the stomach, which was in gap of the chest armour and legs armour. Finally, the creature fell forward onto the floor, dead.

The other Hunter growled loudly, silencing the barrage. Then, without warning, the enormous creature charged towards the deployable machine gun. It was furious that these humans had killed It's comrade. It wanted revenge and it would stop at nothing to kill all of these soldiers, especially Eve.

Very big mistake.

As the Hunter ran past the last two warthogs, the soldiers aimed their weapons up at the creature's exposed back, the easiest was to kill a Hunter, and fired. At the same time, Eve and the solider on the deployable machine gun fired a barrage at the creature. Being hit from both the front and the back was too much for the Hunter. After a few seconds, the creature fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

"Is that all of them?" one of the soldiers asked.

He got his answer when…

BOOM! The squad shot round to see an enormous Covenant vehicle heading towards them. There was an even bigger hole in the blast door now. The vehicle hovered into the bay. It was about twenty eight feet long, a dark purple colour and had a huge main section and two small triangle sections at the front which helped the vehicle hover above the floor. This vehicle was instantly recognizable. It was a Wraith. A Covenant mortar and battle tank.

The wraith continued hovering towards the squad at the other end of the bay. All of a sudden, when it was about half-way down the bay, it fired a light blue mortar projectile at the soldiers. The squad dived for cover, narrowly escaping the blast radius of the projectile.

Eve looked up from where she was lying. The Wraith turned to face a soldier near the right corner of the bay. It fired another projectile at the helpless soldier, killing him. Anger filled Eve's heart. She had to get rid of this wraith now or it would kill all of them.

As the wraith turned to fire a projectile at the last three soldiers with her, Eve had an idea.

"Keep it distracted," she said to the two soldiers.

"Why?" one of them asked, only to see Eve run off towards one of the warthogs

Eve ran over to the back of the first warthog and climbed into the driver's seat. She started the vehicle. The engine hummed. The wheels screeched loudly as Eve drove the warthog out of the bay at full speed and crashed into the side of the wraith. The wraith lifted about three feet into the air and was pushed against another warthog on the other side of the bay. The pilot of the vehicle, a minor Elite, threw the hatch open. This was a big mistake as the other two soldiers fired at the creature, killing it. The body slumped forward onto the top of the tank. Purple blood leaked out of the body and slid down the tank onto the floor.

Eve reversed the warthog so the massive Wraith fell onto the floor. Eve stood up in the driver's seat.

"C'mon, get in," she said to the two soldiers, who nodded and ran over to the warthog.

One of the soldiers got into the passenger seat beside Eve. The other climbed onto the back and manned the flak cannon. Eve pressed her foot down on the accelerator. She drove the warthog down the bay and out of the hole in the blast door. The warthog drove up a steep path, that the vehicle could only just go over, that led up to the surface. When they reached the surface, the three were greeted by the base's surface.

The base was a large square shape and was situated in the middle of a large clearing of the jungle. Around It's perimeter was a fifteen foot high, six foot deep concrete wall. In the middle of the base was a large rectangular shaped building that was about twenty feet high, fifty feet long and thirty feet wide. On the top of this structure was a large square block which had several windows along It's side. This was the command centre of the base on the surface. The main was underground, where Eve had been just minutes earlier.

About forty feet behind the command centre were three large half cylinder shaped buildings separated by about ten feet of ground. Each was about one hundred and twenty feet long. These were the surface barracks. About ninety soldiers could say in each barracks. Next to the barracks was a tall square shaped block. This was the surface armoury. Inside it was loaded with grenades, battle rifles, explosives, vehicle ammo etc. Finally, near the back of the base were two large platforms, which had two tunnels that lead underground to a large hanger at the bottom. This was where pelicans and fighters would land. In between the platforms, which were separated by about twenty feet of earth, was a small square shaped building only about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide. This was one of the only other ways to get underground to the underground structures. Most of the open area was for weapons or vehicle training.

However, the three in the warthog were also greeted by a scene of chaos. Scattered around the open ground were the remains of other warthogs, pelicans and the occasional Wraith or banshee. Also scattered across the ground were many dead Grunts, Jackals, Elites and UNSC soldiers. Large chunks had also been blown open in the wall, the biggest was where the entrance to the base once stood, and up in the sky were long sword fighters engaged in dog fights with banshees and seraph fighters. In front of the command centre was a long concrete wall about six feet high. Behind it were several UNSC soldiers who were firing at Covenant troops taking cover behind the remains of a Wraith and a few destroyed banshees.

"Let's go help 'em out," Eve said.

Eve drove the warthog towards the battle at full speed. When the warthog was about twenty feet from the battle, the soldier in the passenger seat and soldier on the flak cannon fired a barrage at the Covenant troops, who were four Grunts, two Elites and three Jackals. The Covenant were taken by surprise and were quickly massacred before they could flee.

When the Covenant squad had been killed, a sergeant jumped over the concrete wall and ran over to the warthog.

"Thanks guys," he said. "We didn't think we would last long,"

"What's happened up here?" Eve asked the sergeant.

"The Covenant have attacked the perimeter and some have managed to break through to the underground area of the base," the sergeant answered. "At the moment, our boys are holding them off down below but we have to hold off any reinforcements so we can get everyone out of here."

"WATCH OUT!" one of the soldiers behind the concrete wall yelled.

BOOM! The warthog flipped over and landed on It's side with an almighty crash. Eve and the soldiers were thrown out onto the floor. Eve groaned as she got up. She looked at the other two soldiers. They were okay. The sergeant, however, was lying dead on the ground. Whatever had exploded had killed him instantly.

"LOOK OUT! IT'S A WRAITH!" another soldier at the concrete wall yelled.

Eve looked over towards the entrance. The soldier was right. Coming through the entrance was a Wraith. Then, another followed. Eve swore under her breath. This did not look good.

The first wraith fired another mortar shell at the command centre. The blast hit the building and exploded, blowing a huge chunk of the side away. The second wraith fired a blast at the concrete wall. The soldiers saw it coming and only just managed to avoid being blown apart by diving away from the wall. When the mortar blast hit the wall, a large hole was left in the middle.

Eve helped the other two soldiers to their feet. The three then ran over to the concrete wall. Another blast hit the warthog, blowing it to pieces. A relief thought went through Eve's mind, and probably the other two soldiers' minds as well, that they just narrowly escaped being blown apart.

Eve skidded across the ground and dived behind the concrete wall. She rested against it next to another soldier.

"How the hell are going to take those things down?" she asked herself.

"We could call in an air strike," another nearby soldier suggested.

"We can't," the soldier next to Eve replied. "Any fighter that gets launched over here's a goner. We'll have to find another way to take 'em out,"

BOOM! Another explosion blew away a large chunk of the command centre building, throwing dust and rubble onto the ground surrounding the building. A small piece of rubble hit a soldier in the head, knocking him out.

Eve scanned the base for anything that the squad could use to destroy the wraiths. She found it. The armoury. Surely there was something there she could use against the Covenant vehicles.

"I've got an idea," Eve said to one of the soldiers. "Keep them distracted," Before the soldier could ask what the idea was, Eve got up and ran towards the armoury. The soldier just shrugged and fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle at the wraiths. However, one of them fired a mortar blast at Eve, narrowly missing her as it exploded on the ground. Eve ran at her full speed, desperately trying to get to the armoury before she got blown up. The wraith fired another blast at her. Eve looked over her shoulder and saw it coming. She looked ahead of her and saw the armoury only a few metres ahead of her.

Four metres to go.

Eve is almost at the armoury. The mortar shell is just about ten metres away.

Two metres.

Almost there. The mortar shell is now just under four metres away.

BANG! The mortar shell exploded. Just as it did, Eve dived through the open doorway. She landed painfully on the floor. Oh, well. At least she did not get blown to pieces.

"That was close," Auto said.

"Yeah, it was," Eve replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

Eve stood and gazed around the armoury. The entire building was just a large square shaped room with several stacks of weapons against the walls, piles of boxes stacked everywhere. There were even some weapons and explosives strewn across the floor. Looks like the soldiers on the surface were in a hurry to prepare the defences for the Covenant attack.

Eve scanned the room for any weapon, or weapons, she could use to destroy the wraiths. She found them. On top of a pile of boxes was a rocket launcher. Next to it were some rockets. Eve ran over to the weapon and picked it up. It was already loaded. Good. Now she could destroy those wraiths and, hopefully, buy enough time for everyone in the base to esc-

BOOM!

The soldiers at the concrete wall shot round to see an enormous fireball fill the sky. They gasped. Hopelessness filled them like water flowing into a tank. The fireball had come from the armoury. That was where Eve was! Now, she was dead. Their only hope of winning this war was gone.

The soldiers snapped back into reality when another explosion erupted from the ground nearby. They dived behind the concrete wall. Anger was raging inside them. They were now determined to avenge Eve. The soldiers loaded their weapons and got ready to launch a charge attack.

"Get ready," one of the soldiers said. "Time to take these split lip freaks down," BOOM! An explosion on the side of one of the wraiths startled the squad. BOOM! Another explosion quickly followed. The wraith burst into flames, killing the pilot.

"What the hell was that?" one of the soldiers asked, aghast.

He got his answer when two objects flew at the other wraith, hitting it in the sides. The soldiers looked in the direction of where the objects came from and saw Eve with a rocket launcher over her shoulder, aimed directly at the two wraiths. An explosion brought their attention back to the wraith. Fire engulfed the vehicle. The soldiers could hear the Elite screaming. Suddenly, the hatch flew open. The tall bulky figure of the Elite climbed out onto the roof of the vehicle. The soldiers raised their weapons and fired at the creature, killing it with hits to the chest and head. The body fell sideways off of the tank onto the ground.

"Nice work, Eve!" one of the soldiers shouted as she ran over to them.

"Thanks," Eve replied. "Hopefully, that should buy us some time," Then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"This is command centre to all UNSC surface forces. The underground command centre has been captured by Covenant. The general has ordered all personal to leave the base at once. All surface forces, report to the hanger for immediate extraction,"

"We better get moving," one of the soldiers said.

The squad ran towards the square shaped building between the two platforms. As they got closer, Eve heard a whirring noise coming from behind them. She looked over her shoulder to see a phantom drop a squad of four Grunts, an Elite and two Jackals on the ground before it flew off into the air, disappearing behind the trees. The Covenant squad immediately spotted the UNSC soldiers and charged after them.

"We got company!" she shouted to the squad, who turned to see the Covenant troops chasing after them.

Eve skidded to a halt, shot round and fired a shot from her rocket launcher at the Covenant squad. The Grunts screamed and dived to the ground. The Elite was not quick enough…

BOOM! The rocket exploded on the Elite's chest, throwing it through the air and landing on the ground several metres from where it started. The Grunts panicked after seeing their leader get killed and fled towards the hole in the wall where the entrance used to be. The Jackals shook their heads in disbelief as they watched their comrades flee. However, this put the Jackals off guard and were killed by gunfire from the soldiers.

"Alright, let's get down into the hanger before more Covenant arrive," Eve said.

The squad ran to the building. When they reached it, they burst through the doorway into the room. The room was small and cramped for space as it was filled with several computer panels and a glass elevator, with silver coloured steel going over the sides, most of the top and most of the bottom of it, at the other end. The squad ran over to the elevator. Eve rested her hand on a scanning device on the wall. The elevator doors opened, allowing the squad to enter it. One of the soldiers pressed the down button, causing the doors in front of them to close. The elevator jolted slightly as it descended into a long tunnel that led down into the hanger. After a few seconds, the elevator jolted again. The doors opened, allowing the squad to walk out into the hanger.

The hanger was an enormous rectangular shaped room with several tall steel pillars holding up the ceiling, which was only thirty feet above the hanger floor, since on the other side of the ceiling was the ground and then the base on the surface. Scattered around the hanger walls were several doors that led to different parts of the base. One led to the cafeteria, one to the barracks, one to the hospitals and one to the civilians shelter. Scattered around the hanger were about twenty pelicans. In or around them were civilians and soldiers. The soldier were desperately trying to keep everyone calm and get them on board, which was proving to be difficult since the base's underground command centre had fallen to the Covenant about ten minutes earlier. The soldier who were with Eve ran off in the mob to help keep order. Eve looked around the base, her face filled with worry and anxiety. These people had to get out of the base. If not, they could all be listed as casualties of the attack.

"These poor people," Auto said. "They'll never make it out of here in time. We have to find a way to help them,"

"How?" Eve asked in a hopeless tone. "The _Iroquois_ still hasn't turned up yet and the Covenant are probably heading this way right now!"

"Eve!" someone exclaimed from her right.

Eve turned to see a worker, holding a battle rifle, running towards her. She recognized him as the one who warned the general about the incoming Covenant attack.

Before the worker could speak, Eve cut him off.

"What happened at the control centre? Where's the general?"

"Whoa, Eve, slow down," he said, calming her slightly. "As you've probably heard, the Covenant have taken the control centre and have killed everyone inside, except me. I only just made it out. Anyway, the general planned to blow up this base with a bomb if the Covenant took it. The bomb's still in the control centre, but they've probably disarmed it."

"Alright," Eve replied. "Give me your battle rifle. I'll head over there and see if I can get the bomb to go off."

"Eve, your crazy!" the worker half-shouted. "They've got zealot Elites there! You'll get slaughtered!"

"Look, just worry about getting yourself and everyone else out of here!" Eve snapped. She took a breath to calm down. "Look," she said. "I'm sorry about that. Anyway, keep the evacuation going. If I'm not back in ten minutes, go on without me,"

The worker sighed.

"Okay," he said, handing Eve his battle rifle and taking her rocket launcher. "Just stay safe, alright? We can't afford to lose you."

"You won't," Eve replied. "Good luck,"

Eve ran past the worker towards a door on the front wall. It opened as she approached it. Eve ran down the corridor on the other side towards a large room at the other end. When she reached it, she saw it was the civilian shelter. The room was a large square shape with several plants, seats and small make-shift beds scattered around it. Several security cameras were attached to the walls. The room was a mess, most likely because everyone had to leave in a hurry. On the right wall was another door which led into another corridor. Eve ran towards the door, which opened as she approached it, and ran into the corridor on the other side.

Eve gasped at the sight of this corridor. It was covered in blood. Light blue, purple and red. There were several large holes in the walls, floors and ceilings. Bullet holes and blast marks were also visible. It did not take a genius to know a fierce battle had taken place here. How many had been killed or wounded, Eve could not tell.

Eve raised her battle rifle and crept down the corridor. She recognized it as there was a corridor leading off to the right. As Eve reached the second corridor, she could hear something else. Eve looked down the corridor to see the command centre's door lying on the floor, having been forced off It's hinges. The noise sounded like… voices? Yes they were voices. High pitched and deep. Looks like the worker's warning about the zealot Elites was right. The only problem was; how many Covenant were in the room? Hopefully, not loads.

Eve kept her battle rifle close and walked down the corridor towards the command centre, keeping close to the walls so the Covenant would not spot her. When she reached the door, she peeked her head out from behind the wall to look into the command centre. In the middle of the room was a large silver coloured cube shaped object with a control pad on It's front. That was most likely to be the bomb. Around it were two zealot Elites, three Grunts and one Jackal. They were standing in front of a huge tunnel that had been dug into the wall at the back of the room. It was too dark to see if anything or anymore Covenant were in there though. However, Eve was angered by the sight of the general and about fifteen other workers and soldiers lying dead against the wall. Two dead Grunts and dead Jackal were lying amongst them. The general and his soldiers and workers had defended the command centre to the last man. Even though they slightly outnumbered the Covenant, they were no match for their weaponry and hand to hand combat, but they had managed to take at least three Covenant soldiers with them.

The Grunts and the Jackal were digging through the tunnel with their bare hands. A few inches behind them was a small mound of dirt.

"Keep digging!" one of the zealot Elites ordered. "Our masters will grow impatient! We must get the artefact."

The artefact? It was obviously Forerunner, but what type? It could be a Forerunner weapon or key or map or something. Whatever it was, Eve had to find it before the Covenant did?

"I'm detecting a massive energy signature from that tunnel," Auto whispered. "Your right about it being Forerunner, I've had the same reading before when we were on Halo,"

"Will I be able to give you this Forerunner artefact like I did with the Index?" Eve asked him.

"Most likely," Auto answered.

One of the Grunts threw a handful of dirt onto the mound. As he did, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw it was Eve.

"DEMON!" he screamed, pointing up at her.

The two zealot Elites shot round and saw her. In an instant, they lit up two energy swords and jumped up in front of the doorway.

"You will die for destroying the Sacred Ring, demon!" one of them growled.

"Sorry, I don't plan on dying yet," Eve replied.

Before either of the Elites could react, Eve whacked one of the Elites round It's head with her battle rifle. The creature roared in pain, but only more of it came as it smacked it head on the steel wall, knocking it out. The Elite fell backwards onto It's comrade, causing it to stumble. Eve saw her chance and fired a burst from her battle rifle at the Elite hitting it in the chest, killing it. The body fell onto the floor with a thud.

Suddenly, Eve's shield lit up. A light green blast had hit her suit. It came from the direction of the tunnel. Eve looked and saw the Jackal with an activated shield by It's side and a plasma pistol aimed at her in one hand. Eve fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle at the exposed Jackal, killing it.

Eve, her battle rifle raised, walked towards the other end of the room. The Grunts were still in the tunnel but they had no weapons on them. Eve walked towards the Grunts, who began to back away against the wall of the tunnel they had just dug.

"Please! No Hurt!" one of the Grunts squeaked, placing It's hands over It's head as if they would protect him.

"What are you looking for?" Eve snarled as she approached them.

"Artefact!" one of the Grunts answered, backing away as Eve came closer. "Please, don't hurt me-AAAH!"

All of a sudden, the Grunt fell through the wall onto a hard metal floor. At once, a light seemed to come out of the floor and reveal the room. Eve gasped. The room was a small circle shape with a cylindrical platform on the floor. A light blue/white aura was hovering from the panel up to the ceiling in the middle of the aura was a light blue diamond.

The Grunt that fell on the floor got up, only to fall over again when he saw Eve standing over him.

"Please don't hurt me!" the Grunt squeaked.

Eve grabbed the Grunt's chest and threw it out onto the command centre's floor.

"I were you guys, I would leave. Now!" she said, adding a tone on the last word.

Not even a second passed before the Grunts got up and ran towards the command centre's door. Eve watched them flee the room before turning. She walked into the room towards the cylindrical panel. As she approached it, she could feel some kind of energy that felt like it was drawing her too it.

"It's energy signature is massive," Auto said. "Even stronger than the Index. This must be something very powerful if It's Forerunner," "Yeah, but what?" Eve asked.

She reached her hand out and grabbed the crystal. As she did, a sharp pain filled Eve's head. She yelped in pain and fell forward, almost hitting her head on the panel.

"Eve!" Auto exclaimed. "Are you alright?" "Yeah," Eve replied, breathing heavily as she stood up. "I'm fine."

"We better go," Auto said. "Otherwise the pelican will leave without us,"Eve nodded and ran back into the command centre room. As she passed the bomb, she rested her hand on the control pad. Auto immediately activated the timer. They had only one minute to flee the base before the bomb detonated.

Eve ran through the doorway, over the knocked out body of the zealot Elite, and ran down the corridor towards the end. She was running at full speed. This crystal was important and could possibly be the only thing between the Covenant and the destruction of Earth, or even the universe.

"What do you think this thing can do?" Auto asked her.

"No idea," Eve replied. "We'll have to try and find that out when we get to the Iroquois, at least I hope we do-"

"KILL THE DEOMON!"

As Eve turned into the main corridor, another zealot and four Grunts had been coming down from the hanger to the right to deal with Eve. The zealot Elite, armed with a plasma rifle, fired a burst of ammo at Eve as she ran left down the corridor towards the civilians shelter. Most of the blasts hit her suit, causing her shield to light up. The holographic meter appeared above Eve's wrist. The level was in the red, which was very bad. What was worse, the level decreased more as more blasts hit Eve. Suddenly, it was empty. Eve looked up and saw the civilian shelter just a few feet ahead of her. Without thinking, she dived forward through the open doorway, narrowly missing two blasts as they flew over her head and hit the wall opposite the doorway.

Eve got up and ran towards the corridor that led to the hanger. Behind her, she could hear the heavy footfalls of the Elite as it chased her. The doorway to the hanger was just sixty feet away. Now fifty… Forty… Thirty. Eve ran at her full speed. She had to get to the hanger. She was almost there.

Suddenly, her suit lit up again. Eve looked over her shoulder to see the zealot Elite standing in the doorway of the civilians shelter, It's plasma rifle raised up at her. The Elite fired another barrage of light blue blasts. Most hit Eve's suit, causing the level in her holographic meter to drop into the red zone. Although she did not have time to stand and fight, Eve had to do something about the Elite.

Still running, she turned the upper part of her body and fired a burst of ammo down the corridor towards the Elite. The bullets hit the Elite's shield, causing it to light up until it was disabled. The Elite dived behind the wall inside the civilian shelter. With the creature dealt with, Eve could now continue on to the hanger.

When Eve reached the hanger, she was relieved to see a pelican waiting below one of the tunnel entrances up to the surface. Two soldiers climbed on. One of them then turned to make sure the hanger was clear and saw Eve.

"Eve!" he exclaimed. "C'mon, get over here quickly!"

Eve ran over to the pelican at full speed. When she reached it, the soldier grabbed her arm and hauled her up into the pelican. The pilot ascended the craft up towards the hole as quickly as it would go.

**Command centre **

The bomb's timer was at six seconds.

5.…

4.…

3.…

2.…

1.…

**Surface**

The pelican flew out of the hole up into the sky. Eve looked down at the base as the pelican climbed higher away from the ground.

Suddenly, Eve heard a loud noise. It sounded like an enormous distant creature's roar. It was coming from the ground. Eve looked down at the base's surface. Just as she did…

BOOM! Enormous fireballs shot up out of the ground through the holes in the ground that led to the hanger. Eve and the soldiers in the resting area watched in shock and awe as the fireball ascended into the sky. Then, the sound of an enormous landslide filled the air. Eve looked down and gasped as the surface of the base and some of the surrounding jungle crumbled and fell onto the underground base. Eve sighed. It was a great, but costly sacrifice. Even though they had lost this base, and probably control over this region of Central America, at least they had managed to save a lot of civilian lives and soldiers who would live to fight another day.

What made the sacrifice more worth it was that Eve and Auto had managed to recover a Forerunner artefact. Although they did not know It's full purpose, if it was a weapon that did have the power to destroy Earth or activate something that would destroy Earth, they had managed to stop the Covenant from recovering it.

"Alright," the pilot announced from the cog pit. "We're heading over to the _Iroquois_. Command's ordered all spare troops to head to any city under siege from Covenant forces,"

Eve ran up to the cog pit.

"Where we headed?" she asked him.

"Once we get to the ship, we'll be in New Mombassa," the pilot answered.


	10. Battle of New Mombassa

**The next day**

Twenty four hours had passed since the Covenant attack on Earth began. In that time, they had swept past two orbital defence platforms up in space, but lost an assault carrier and six CCS battle cruisers. However, they had managed to land in four major landing zones on Earth. One in Central America, one around the Parthenon in Athens, one in the ruins of the Khmer temple ruins in Cambodia and one in New Mombassa in Kenya.

This puzzled the UNSC commanders, particularly Lord Hood. Why had the Covenant attacked only these four landmarks? They had attacked the orbital defence platforms up in space but then they suddenly spread out across the globe and attack these four locations. What made this attack even more puzzling was that the Covenant had not glassed Earth. Usually after sweeping aside the space defences, their ships would glass the surface to destroy any hope of it being re-colonized. Why they had not glassed Earth was a really big mystery. Either the Covenant wanted to take mankind's home world untouched and have it as a prize for delivering the final blow to mankind or there was something here that they were looking for and did not want Earth to be glassed for in danger of destroying whatever they were after.

It had been a long twenty four hours for Eve and the defenders of the Central America base. After sacrificing the base in an effort to slow the Covenant advance, which did work for some time, they fled to the Iroquois, which was alongside the battleships Volga and Vatican. Afterwards, the Iroquois split up with the other two UNSC ships and flew across the Atlantic and Africa to New Mombassa, where the Amber Clad had been for the past day, trying to hold the city against the Covenant forces. This was an important battle because the leading assault carrier had come to this city, but it was alone. All the other Covenant ships had landed everywhere else around the globe. What they were doing here if they were only attacking remains was unknown.

The skies above New Mombassa were dark brown due to the smoke of the battle that had been raging below for the past twenty four hours. Most of the population had escaped in time, but there were several hundred still trapped in the city. High above the surface of the city was the Amber Clad. On board was Mary, who had been leading the city's defence. Last night, the Covenant had taken much of the city. The battle was almost lost. Then, this morning Mary was overjoyed to hear that reinforcements had arrived, and Eve was among them. With reinforcements here to help, Mary ordered Eve to be sent to the city to secure it and drive off the Covenant.

A squadron of four pelicans flew out from the ship to the city below. Eve and Johnson were in the leading pelican with two pilots and about six other marines. Eve was standing at the back of the pelican, looking down at the city as it became visible. Auto had the blue crystal the two had recovered from the underground base in southern Mexico. They were going to have to find out what it was and what it could do later. Now, they had to clear New Mombassa.

As the pelicans descended towards the ground, Eve saw they were over Old Mombassa. This part of the city was the first Mombassa. It had a lot of history behind it. It was wrestled between various powers including Portugal, the U.K and various Arab forces, mainly because of It's position on the African coast. It was a great place for trade routes to other lands under the ruler's control. Eventually, it became part of Kenya after the end of the Second World War.

Eve looked up to see the skyscrapers of New Mombassa far away on an island in the middle of a bay. However, what really drew her attention was the sky elevator, which was on another island in the bay about one mile east of New Mombassa. The structure had a main sphere like main structure with three cylindrical legs coming off of the sides of the sphere into the ground. There was a long, sixty foot wide cylindrical tower sticking up out of the sphere and going up into the clouds, disappearing from sight. This structure took civilians going up into space about five miles up into the air to transports that would take them to space. It was used a lot during the colonization period. The tower had also caused thousands of people to flock to the city from all corners of the globe. The overpopulation of Old Mombassa eventually led to the construction of the New Mombassa city on the island near the space tower. And even today it was still growing. To keep the two islands connected instead of having to go by boat, a large steel bridge had been built over the bay.

Hovering alongside the sky elevator was a large silver ship. It was the Covenant assault carrier. Eve wondered why only one ship was attacking the city. Usually, they would have more. Something here was not right.

The pelicans descended over Old Mombassa until they were about forty feet above a main motorway that ran through Old Mombassa to the bridge. Eve looked down at the city below. Most of the buildings were made of concrete and were quite old. They were mainly either apartment complex's, hotels, office buildings or shopping centres. However, scattered along the motorway's surface and the roads that went underneath or around the motorway were cars. Many of them had been in collisions with other vehicles but some just lay there like someone who was forced by other people to stay out of any activities. Some of them were even turned on their sides. By the looks of it, everyone had been in a mad rush to get out of the city when the Covenant attacked. Eve hoped everyone got out in time.

_"This is weird,"_ Auto said through his com, which went through Eve's ear radio. _"I'm getting some kind of message."_

_"What does it say?"_ came Hood's voice.

_"It's just a repeat, sir,"_ Auto replied. _"It just says. Regret… Regret… Regret,"_

_"Any idea what it means?"_ came Mary's voice.

_"Dear humanity," _another voice suddenly piped up. It was John._ "We regret being alien bastards! We regret coming to Earth! And we most definitely regret that the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!"_

_"Oo-rah!"_ came two other voices immediately just as John finished. The pilots.

Eve rolled her eyes. John had always talked like that when a Covenant fleet would land on human controlled planet.

_"Regret is a name, sergeant,"_ Auto corrected him. _"The name of one of the Covenant's religious leaders. A prophet. He's on that carrier and he's calling for help,"_

As the pelicans flew further down the motorway, they passed a convoy of warthogs below them. On the roof of a nearby office building, two soldiers were laying stomach down on the concrete. One was holding a sniper rifle, the other had some kind of advanced military binoculars laid out in front of him

"Immediate: Grid kilo two-three is hot. Recommend mission abort," the soldier with the binoculars said into a small radio he was holding in his hand.

_"Roger, recon,"_ one of the pilots replied. _"It's your call, sarge,"_

_"We're going in,"_ came John's voice.

Eve turned her head in the direction of the cog pit as the door opened.

"Get tactical, marines!" he shouted out of the cog pit.

Eve walked over to a nearby seat and picked up a battle rifle. She checked it to make sure the weapon was loaded. Around the pelican's bay, other soldiers were preparing their weapons for the coming fight. One marine with a sniper rifle checked his ammo clip to make sure it was full before placing it inside his weapon. Another marine cocked his battle rifle. The squad were ready to fight.

_"Eve, you have an important objective."_ came Hood's voice again. _"Get aboard that carrier and secure the prophet of Regret. This is the only place on Earth the Covenant have decided to launch a one ship offensive. That prophet is going to tell us why,"_

"Thirty seconds out," Eve heard one of the pilots said. "Stand by to… Holy God,"

The pilot's eyes grew wide with shock and fear. John gasped and the other pilot swore under his breath.

The reason. One hundred feet down the motorway, an enormous machine walked out from behind an office building. The machine had a huge rectangular-like block as It's main section with four enormous mechanical legs coming off of the main section. Two coming either side of the front and two coming off either side of the back. The top surface of the mains section was covered with a gold coloured floor. Going over the main section was an archway. It led from the back of the main section, where some kind of large cylindrical plasma cannon with large cylindrical ammo clips was, to the front of the main section, where it stopped between two small purple coloured walls, which was the colour of much of the machine, and underneath another large cylindrical plasma cannon. Between the two walls was a metal pathway that led down into the interior of the main section. At the front of the vehicle was a large cylindrical top metal section. What was inside it was unknown.

The back left leg of the machine smashed through the top of a truck as it came onto the motorway. The machine moved the front of it up, as if it seemed to be looking up at the approaching pelicans. Suddenly, the cylindrical top broke apart in large petal-like shapes and opened up like a flower blooming in Spring. In the middle of the cylindrical top was a large silo. A green light charged up inside it.

"Ascend the pelican!" John shouted. "Ascend! ASC-!"

Too late. A green laser shot out of the silo and smashed into a pelican left of the one Eve was on. The craft exploded into a fireball and crashed onto the motorway below. The pelicans continued on towards the machine like an army that was determined to defeat an enemy they knew was going to be hard, or even impossible, to defeat. The three remaining pelicans ascended into the sky, hoping to pass over the machine. This failed as the plasma cannon near the front of the machine fired a barrage of red blasts at the craft. Two hit the cog pit of a pelican to the right of Eve's one. The craft fell out of the sky and exploded against an office building. The fireball blocked the cog pit's view on Eve's pelican. The pilots struggled to keep the craft going in the same direction, hoping it would still be airborne when they would emerge from the fireball.

CRASH! The side of the pelican crashed into the front right legs of the machine just as it emerged from the fireball, tearing the right wing off completely. The pilots struggled to keep the ship airborne, but it was no use. The pelican spun over and crashed onto the concrete buildings. It skid across the surface of them until it broke through the ceiling of one building to the ground floor below.

Eve, who had been thrown to the pelican's resting area's floor in the crash, groaned as she stood up. The force of the fall hurt quite badly. Several other marines around the resting area were getting to their feet as well. Two of the marines, however, were lying dead in their seats. Eve heard John groan from the cog pit. After a few seconds, John walked out of the cog pit with a battle rifle in his hands.

"Pilots are dead," he said. "Alright, marines, clear the crash site. Go, go, go!"

Eve led the squad out of the crashed pelican into a large room. Several plants and furniture were scattered across the floor. The pelican was lying on top of a large pile of rubble from where the ceiling and part of the back wall had once stood.

"They'll regret that too," Eve muttered under her breath.

"Where should we go?" one of the soldiers asked.

John scanned the room, hoping to find a way out, other than the enormous hole in the ceiling the downed pelican had just made. Then, he found another way out. On the front wall of the room was a blasted down door. John led the squad towards the door. When they emerged from the room, they found themselves in a short corridor with doors along both sides. At the left end of the corridor was a broken down door, which was lying down on the floor on the squad's side of the corridor, which led outside. John ran towards the exit; the squad followed.

The squad found themselves in a large corridor alongside a road that led from a big metal gate that to a tunnel with concrete around it at the right end. The road carried on left past a quarter circle shaped building on the other side of the courtyard before splitting into two roads. One continued on left towards another big metal gate, the other went right away from the courtyard, again, towards another big metal gate. Scattered along them and around the courtyard were more abandoned cars. Like on the highway, some were involved in crashes or were turned over onto their sides. Along the other side of the street were some apartment houses with small alleyways between them and some going behind them. Other office buildings and apartment houses a few hundred feet away in every direction towered over the courtyard area. another big metal gate was about half-way down the apartment buildings opposite the courtyard.

John scanned the courtyard. The squad was alone.

"How the hell do we find a way out of here?" he asked himself.

John's radio suddenly crackled to life.

"This is Echo 375." a voice said. "Sgt John, if you can hear me. We've pinpointed your location. Wait in the courtyard until I come over,"

"Roger that," John replied. "How long will you be?"

"ETA, possibly between ten to fifteen minutes,"

John sighed.

"Alright, we'll see you when you get here," he said. "Over and out."

"I hope that pelican gets here in time," one of the marines said. "With that thing running around, we'll be toast if it gets over here before the pelican does,"

"Hostiles!" a deep voice shouted from one of the alleyways between the apartment.

The squad shot round to see a minor Elite and a squad of four Grunts on the edge of an alleyway. They fired a barrage of light blue and light green blasts at the squad. One of the marines was hit the face and fell to the ground, dead. The other squad members took cover behind an abandoned car.

"Well this is great!" John growled. "Not only is there a massive Covenant machine runnin' round the city, but now we've got their troops to deal with as well."

"Let's run to the building across the courtyard," Eve suggested. "We'll have an advantage over them there,"

John nodded.

"Alright," he said. "Get ready,"

The other marines loaded their weapons. It was obvious they were going to have to fire and run at he same time.

"Three… two… one… GO!"

The squad members ran as fast as they could from behind the car towards the quarter circle shaped building. The Covenant squad fired on them, desperate to try and kill them before they got to their target. The squad retaliated with their own gunfire against the Covenant. One of the Grunts yelled as it flipped backwards onto It's stomach. It lay there dead. Another Grunt followed the same fate just a few seconds later.

The squad reached the quarter circle shaped building. It looked more like some kind of garden building. The ground floor had a small garden in the middle of it. Going up the left wall was a flight of stone stairs, which led onto the roof and a small pathway that went around the roof's curve to a small opening that gave people a view of the small garden from the second floor.

"Go up the stairs, I'll hold them off," Eve said to John.

"Alright, you heard Eve. Let's go," John ordered.

John led the three marines up the stairs to the landing on the second floor. Eve ran back outside and fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle at the Elite, causing It's armour to light up. The Elite dived behind an abandoned car. The two remaining Grunts went to follow, but gunfire from the building's second level killed both of them. John and the three marines ran up to the edge and fired down at the abandoned car. The Elite ran out from behind the car towards an alleyway. Big mistake. Eve raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at the creature. The bullets tore through the Elite's back and ripped through It's chest, killing it.

Eve walked forward towards the road. She knew more Covenant would appear soon. The problem was; how many Covenant were in the city? Most likely to be several hundred or even several thousand if there was a carrier attacking this city.

Suddenly, Eve's suit lit up. Eve dived behind the car the Elite had used. The holographic meter appeared above her wrist. It showed the level in the yellow zone. The level then rose up towards the top. When it hit the top, the meter disappeared. Eve's shield was fully recharged again.

"That was close," Auto said.

"Yeah, it was," Eve replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Here they come, up high!" John shouted.

Eve peeked her head out from behind the car to see a Jackal sniper standing on the top of one of the apartment buildings on the other side of the road. Then, a major Elite ran past the Jackal and jumped down onto the road. It whipped out an energy sword and ran towards the building's opening on the ground. Eve had to stop the creature. If it got into the building, John and the squad would not stand a chance.

As the Elite ran past the car, Eve, who had set her battle rifle against the car, lunged at the Elite. She grabbed it round the hips and pinned it to the ground. The energy sword flew through the air and skidded across the ground to the building's ground floor entrance. The Elite growled and whacked Eve in the face with the back of It's arm, sending her flying onto the ground. The Elite then got up and kicked Eve in the chest, winding her. Eve gasped for breath as the Elite stood over. It growled loudly.

"You will pay for your insolence, demon!" the Elite growled as it raised It's armoured foot.

The Elite brought It's foot down with all the strength it had. Eve grabbed the foot just as it was about to hit her face. Using all her strength, Eve pushed the foot away from her face, which grew harder as the Elite pushed It's foot down harder. Eve released one hand from the Elite's foot and threw a punch at the side of It's legs. The Elite roared in pain and fell to the ground. Eve quickly scrambled to her feet and ran towards the energy sword. Just as she reached it, a hand covered with red armour grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her away from the entrance. Eve swung round with the energy sword. The sword sliced through the Elite's chest, causing a trickle of purple blood to seep out. The Elite gasped slightly before falling backwards onto the ground, dead.

A loud screech was heard from across the road. Not even a second later, the body of a Jackal landed on the tarmac. The sniper had been dealt with. Hopefully, he would be the last the squad had to deal with.

A loud screech echoed throughout the courtyard. Eve shot round as John and the three marines ran over to the ledge of the building a few metres above her.

"We got Jackals in the courtyard!" John said.

He was right. Through the entrance of the building where the squad came into the courtyard, a squad of four Jackals and a minor Elite ran out. They fired on Eve and the squad. Eve dived back behind the wall next to the building's ground floor entrance. Several blasts hit the concrete and fizzed away. Eve breathed a sigh of relief. That was a close one.

"How do expect to get through this one?" Auto asked her.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something," Eve answered.

Eve ran towards the stairs that led up to the roof. As she climbed them, the noise of gunfire filled the air like a bombshell. When Eve reached the top, she ran onto the roof towards the ledge. She jumped down onto the pavement below and ran down the road towards the metal gate, taking cover behind some of the cars as she went so not to draw any attention from the Covenant squad.

When Eve reached an abandoned car a few metres from the big gate, she peeked her head out from behind it. The Jackals and the Elite were all easily exposed. If only Eve had her weapon with her, she could have mowed them down. Luckily, one of the Jackals was moving sideways towards Eve's cover. This was perfect. She could take It's weapon and use it on the rest of the Covenant squad. Only, she had to be quick. If the other Covenant squad members saw her, they would fire on her and kill her.

The Jackal stopped firing for a second to adjust It's shield into the right position. Suddenly, Eve's hands grabbed It's beak and neck and pulled the creature behind the car. Thank God the other Covenant squad members did not notice their missing comrade, since they were too busy firing at John and the marines in the quarter circle shaped building. The Jackal squirmed as much as it could to try and break out of Eve's grip. However, she was too strong for it. Eve then wrestled the Jackal's plasma pistol from It's hand and brought it down on the creature's head. The blow instantly killed the Jackal. Eve pushed the body off her and stood up. She jumped out from behind the car and fired a barrage of light green blasts at the Jackals. The creatures were taken completely by surprise and fell to the ground, dead. The Elite turned to fire at Eve, only to be killed by a barrage of bullets from John and the marines.

"Nice work, Eve," Auto said.

"Told you I would think of something," Eve replied.

"EVE, WATCH OUT!" John yelled.

Suddenly, something grabbed both of Eve's shoulders and began lifting her up above the ground. Eve looked up and saw probably the strangest creature she had ever seen.

The creature looked like some kind of insect/humanoid with wings. It was about six feet tall and had light green skin with light green armour placed across It's chest, head, back and even on the wings themselves. The eyes were a yellow colour that seemed to glow. The creature also had a small pincer mouth at the front of It's face. Then, Eve saw more of them fly over the tunnel building and scatter around the courtyard. They were all armed with plasma pistols. These creatures were new members of the Covenant but they have had several battles with the UNSC. The given name for the species is Yanme'e. The soldiers called them Drones.

The Drone holding Eve hovered higher above the ground. Eve aimed her plasma pistol up at one of the creatures' wings and fired a blast. The Drone screeched loudly as the blast ripped through It's wing as if it was made of paper. The Drone began to fly erratically as it desperately tried to stay airborne. It's other comrades noticed this and began firing a barrage of light green blasts at Eve in a bid to kill her. This failed as the Drone holding her could not stay airborne. It suddenly dived towards the ground. Eve yelped and jumped out of the Drone's grip. Just in time as the Drone hit the top of an abandoned car. It fell onto the ground and lay still. It must have broken It's neck when hitting the car.

Eve got up and ran through the quarter circle shaped building's entrance, narrowly missing a barrage of light green blasts the other Drones fired at her. Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she rested her back against the concrete wall. These Covenant were going to be much harder to kill.

A barrage of gunfire erupted from above, indicating John and the marines were firing at the Drones. Several loud screeches erupted from the courtyard, followed by loud thuds. Eve tightened her grip on the plasma pistol. She ran out through the building's entrance and fired at the Drones. One was hit as it clung onto the side of a building and fell to the ground, dead. Another two blasts ripped through the chest of another Drone, killing that one. The last Drone, which was standing on top of an abandoned car turned on It's side in the middle of the courtyard, was killed by a hit to the head from John's battle rifle.

"Is that the last of 'em?" one of the marines asked.

"I hope so," John replied.

"Guys," Auto said through his com. "I've picked up a pelican heading in this direction,"

"This is Echo 375," another voice said through Eve's ear radio and the squad's radio on their uniforms' chests. "I have a visual on your location. I'm comin' in now,"

A loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve looked up to see a pelican flying down towards the courtyard from the direction of the New Mombassa city. When it was about the height of the quarter circle shaped building, it stopped all of a sudden.

_"My girl's a little big for that courtyard, sergeant,"_ Eve heard the pilot say. _"Wait… I do see a good LZ on the other side of these buildings. Take these to blast your way through the gate. Meet you at the LZ, over,"_

The pelican turned in mid-air so the front of it was now facing the buildings across the road from the courtyard. A large cylinder shaped object dropped from the tail that usually carried warthogs. It hit the ground near the road with a large thud. The pelican then flew over the buildings and disappeared from sight.

John led the squad back inside the building, down the stairs and out into the courtyard. Eve ran up to the cylinder shaped object. A small scanning device was on the front of the cylinder object. Eve rested her hand on the scanning device. The front suddenly lowered down, revealing two small square shaped objects the size of a human hand. Satchel charges.

"Alright, let's get one of these on the gates," John said.

Eve reached out and took one of the satchel charges in her hand.

BOOM! The gate between the buildings shook all of a sudden. Eve and the squad looked towards it. BOOM! The gate shook again, this time it was much harder. A small cloud of dust rose up around the gate. The squad members gripped their weapons tighter. Something was on the other side of that gate. Whether it was Covenant or UNSC, they did not know. If it was hostile, they would be ready to fire on it.

CRASH! The gate was hit so hard that not only was forced off It's hinges, but it was also broken in two. Both pieces landed with a loud crash on the floor. Out of the alleyway on the other side of the gate came two huge and bulky figures. They walked onto the road. The figures were covered in dark blue armour and were armed with a huge metal sword-like weapon and a plasma cannon.

"Hunters!" Eve exclaimed.

The Hunters charged up their cannons. A light green ball in each was slowly growing larger. The squad knew what this meant and dived to the ground. Just a millisecond later, two huge green lasers flew over the squad's heads and hit the walls of the quarter circle shaped building. The building's lower walls blew apart as if explosives had been placed inside them, causing part of the side of the building to collapse.

"RUN!" John yelled.

The squad ran away from the building as the large chunk of it came crashing down. An enormous cloud of dust spread out over the courtyard like water does when it is released from a tank. The dust blinded the squad, leaving them vulnerable to the Hunters if they ran into them.

Eve coughed loudly, spitting out large piles of dust from her mouth.

"John!" she shouted. "Guys, where are you?"

"Eve?" John's voice shouted from somewhere in the cloud.

Eve fought her way through the dust cloud towards where John's voice came from. However, she bumped into something. Something big. Something tall and covered in dark blue armour. Eve's eyes slowly went up whatever she was bumped with. They soon met with the armoured face of one of the Hunters.

The Hunter roared and raised It's arm with the sword. Eve yelped and dived away from the Hunter, narrowly missing the sword as it crashed into the ground. As Eve got up, she jumped to her side as the Hunter charged over to her and swung It's sword at her. Thankfully, it missed her again. Eve fired several blasts from her plasma pistol at the Hunter's face. They hit the creature, but did not do anything. Except for making the Hunter more angry as it swung It's sword at her, which Eve ducked and only just managed to avoid having her head taken off.

The dust cloud began to clear. John and the three marines had linked up near the new hole in the side of the quarter circle shaped building. A loud CLANG drew their attention down towards the gate, where they saw Eve narrowly avoid another swipe by one of the Hunters' swords. The other Hunter rushed over to help.

"Should we help?" one of the marines asked.

"No," John replied. "Stand back, marines. Let Eve show you how It's done,"

Eve jumped back as the Hunter in front of her made another swipe with It's sword. Again, it failed to hit her. Eve then dived forward under the Hunter's legs and threw the satchel charge on the weak point on It's back. She then dived away from the Hunter towards the courtyard.

BOOM! The satchel charge exploded. The Hunter let out a weak roar before it fell forward onto the ground, dead. Eve smiled as she stood up.

"Nice one, Eve," Auto said.

"Thanks," Eve replied.

"EVE, LOOK OUT!" one of the marines yelled.

Eve looked towards the marines. She yelped and ducked, narrowly avoiding the sword from the other Hunter. Eve ran down the road towards the body of the other Hunter. Behind her, heavy footfalls indicated the Hunter was chasing after her. Eve jumped over the body of the dead Hunter. A loud boom-like noise caused her to turn. The other Hunter had tripped over the arm of It's dead comrade and fallen onto the metal sword. The creature did not rise again afterwards.

"Good work, Eve!" John shouted as he and the marines ran towards the gate. "Now let's get to the LZ,"

Eve ran over to the gate after the squad. They ran down the alleyway on the other side of the gate and turned right into another. They were near one of the motorways that connected onto the main one that led to the bridge. The squad turned left down a smaller alleyway.

The marines found themselves on the edge of a motorway, or what was left of a section of it. Across the remains of the motorway was another alleyway between two buildings. Another path led right into… well God knows what.

Suddenly, three shapes in the alleyway on the other side of the motorway's remains ran out from the right. They were Jackals, which the squad could tell because they had their shields activated. The Jackals saw the squad and fired a barrage of light green blasts over the motorway's remains at them. The squad dived behind any cover they could find. Eve hid behind a doorway on a building that made a kind of right wall to the alleyway.

"What the hell do we do know?" one of the marines asked as he fired a burst from his battle rifle at the Jackals, only to have the bullets hit one of the shields.

Suddenly, the Jackals were thrown to the ground, dead. Gunfire flew out from the side and quickly mowed them down. Eve gasped.

"What the hell…?" she began, only to be cut off by a loud whirring noise.

Eve ran out from the alleyway onto the remains of the motorway. A pelican was hovering about seven feet above the motorway's remains. On the back was a soldier manning a deployable machine gun.

John and the marines ran out of the alleyway and stopped next to Eve.

"Thanks for the help, Echo 375," John shouted to the soldier.

"No problem, sergeant," the soldier shouted back.

_"Sergeant, I need you on that pelican,"_ Mary's voice suddenly erupted from the squad's radios.

John moved the radio on his uniform up near his lips.

"What's the problem?" John asked.

_"My pelicans are going to start landing armour and reinforcements into the city,"_ Mary answered. _"They'll need someone who isn't afraid of a little hostile ground fire,"_

"Understood, I'll keep an eye on them," John said. "Eve, you'll have to lead the squad through the city. Good luck,"

Eve nodded and watched John as he ran over the pelican and climbed on. The pelican rose into the air before flying over to the buildings and disappearing from sight.

"Alright, let's go," Eve said to the marines

Eve lead the squad across the remains of the motorway towards the alleyway on the other side. When they reached it, they turned right into another alleyway. The squad came to a halt near the dead bodies of two UNSC marines. A young UNSC marine was hiding behind a wall next to a door that led inside a small building about fifteen feet tall with a flat roof. In his hands was an MA5B assault rifle. He looked quite relieved when he saw the squad.

"Get behind cover!" he hissed at the squad.

Eve and the squad stopped behind a wall of the building they were next to. Around the corner was a long path that led down between several small apartment houses. Going out from either side of the path way, between the buildings, were more alleyways. At the end of the path was a huge apartment building with windows along it. The roof of the building the young marine was taking cover against carried on down much of the right side of the pathway.

"What happened?" Eve asked the soldier.

"We got ambushed by Covenant when we went through here to look for the crew of a downed pelican." the soldier replied. "They're still there. Jackal snipers, Grunts and probably a few of those new aliens called Drones, or whatever."

"Let's see how many of 'em there are," one of the marines standing behind Eve said.

He walked past Eve and poked his head out from behind the wall. Just as he did, a purple laser fired from a nearby rooftop and struck the soldier in the face. The force of the impact threw the soldier to the ground and almost made him hit his head on the wall several feet behind him.

"Damn!" Eve hissed. "At least he got us to know they're still there,"

"Only problem is; how the hell do we get past them?" the young marine asked. "We go anywhere across this path, we're dead,"

Eve sighed. The soldier was right. If they even tried to run for cover beyond this point, they were as good as dead. They had to find a way past these Covenant troops fast. If they did not, the survivors, if any, of the downed pelican would be dead. They probably already were.

Suddenly, Eve had an idea. The doorway the young marine was standing next to. That could be the solution to their problem.

"I've got an idea," Eve said. "Just keep them distracted."

Before any of the marines could ask Eve what her plan was, she ran across the alleyway entrance to where the young marine was hiding. The Jackals hiding in the apartment building at the other end of the alleyway fired a barrage of purple lasers at her. Thankfully, all missed but only by a few inches.

When Eve reached where the young marine was, she kicked the doorway open and ran into the building. She found herself in a small living room which had a sofa and two chairs gathered round a table in the middle of the room with a wooden floor. On the floor near a corner of the room was a plasma screen TV. Several plants also laid scattered across the floor with their dirt scattered everywhere. In the left corner at the back of the room was a flight of stairs. Next to them, Eve could see a doorway that led out to a kitchen. However, Eve could also see some blood scattered across the table with some smashed glass. Whoever lived here must have cut their hand in the rush to flee the city when the Covenant attacked. Hopefully that person was safe and was being treated for his injury.

"Mad rush took place here alright," Auto said.

"Yeah," Eve replied. "Let's get up onto the roof and get out of this neighbourhood."

Eve ran over to the stairs. She ran up them two at a time. At the top was a metal door that led out onto the roof. Eve burst through the doorway onto the concrete floor that made up the roof. Several metres in front of her was a Jackal sniper. It screeched loudly when she burst through the door. Eve fired several blasts from her plasma pistol at the creature, killing it with hits to the head and chest. The beam rifle the Jackal was holding fell onto the roof's floor. Eve ran over to the rifle and picked it up. Another screech brought her attention to the windows of the apartment building about ten metres away from the edge of the roof she was on. Three Jackals had their weapons aimed up at her. Eve was dead meat. Even if she ran towards the door, they would still most likely hit her with their beam rifle lasers. Also, her shield would not be able to withstand three beam rifle shots at the same time. It looked like she was a goner.

Suddenly, a barrage of gunfire flew out of the alleyway below up at the Jackals. The Covenant soldiers were taken by surprise and had no chance of reacting quick enough. All three Jackals were hit and disappeared from sight below the window ledges. Eve ran to the edge of the rook and saw the squad of marines below her. Eve grabbed the roof's ledge and jumped down to the ground.

"Thanks, guys," Eve said to the marines as she landed on the ground.

"It's okay," one of the marines replied. "Eve, we'll clear out this area. You go on,"

"You sure?" Eve asked the marine.

"Kill bad guy!" a high pitched voice squeaked.

A Grunt charged out of a small alleyway going off to the left from the path a few feet away from the squad. The Grunt raised It's plasma pistol, only to get killed by a burst of ammo from the young marine's assault rifle.

"Yeah, we'll be fine. You go on," the young marine said to Eve.

"Okay. Stay safe," Eve replied.

She ran down the path and turned left into another alleyway. Eve had to get to the pelican fast. More Covenant would lurking around this part of Old Mombassa and they would most likely be hunting for any stray marines. Several bursts of ammo exploded in the alleyways not far behind her, followed by loud screeches and high pitched yells. The squad had everything under control back there.

Eve came out of the alleyway onto a long road that turned into a curve and carried on down behind the apartment buildings in the alleyways onto another motorway.

Next to the curve was a large block shaped building with several flat circled sections across It's roof. Several windows were lined along It's side and front. A large entrance was at the front of the building.

Eve's ear radio suddenly crackled.

_"This is Second Squad at the crash site of Bravo 471,"_ a voice said. _"Anyone hear me, over?"_

Eve placed a finger on her ear radio.

"I read you, Second Squad," she said. "What's your location?"

_"We're in a hotel near some alleyways, Eve,"_ the voice replied. _"We're operational, but barely. Our pilots and a marine didn't make it,"_

"Alright, stay where you are. I'll come to you," Eve said.

_"Alright, Eve. Get here quick as you can,"_

Eve lowered her hand from her ear radio.

"Lucky us," Auto said. "We get radio contact with Second Squad and the building their hiding in is only down the road,"

Eve nodded. At least Auto was right. Second Squad said they were hiding in a hotel and there was one up ahead. She ran down the road towards the hotel. As Eve got closer, she saw something move. Eve screeched to a halt and raised her plasma pistol. A figure ran out of the building and looked around. It was a marine. Eve sighed in relief. Thank God it was not Covenant.

"Hey, Eve!" the marine shouted, waving at her. "Get over here!"

Eve ran over to the marine.

"You guys okay?" she asked when she reached him.

"Only just," the marine replied. "There's only four of us left. And the Covenant have got squads going along the beach on the other side of this hotel to mop up any survivors. Come on,"

The marine ran back inside the hotel; Eve followed. The entrance to the hotel was a wide rectangle shaped room with a small counter come off of the right wall. A doorway half-way down the opposite wall lead into a corridor that was about sixty feet along. Along both sides of the corridor's walls were doors leading to the hotel's room. Down at the other end of the corridor, where it turned to the left slightly, was an exit that led outside. Three other marines stood around the room. One of them had a bandage, which had a large red spot on it. wrapped round his leg.

Then, Eve saw that the soldier was right about the Covenant squads being sent out. A barrage of light blue blasts flew down the corridor and hit the wall.

"There's Covenant coming," she whispered to the squad.

"Everyone get behind cover," one of the marines ordered.

The squad took cover against the walls either side of the doorway. Eve was on the left side next to the doorway. Two other marines were behind her. Eve peeked her head down the corridor to quickly catch a glimpse of three small lumbering figures and a tall bulky figure running up the corridor towards the hotel's entrance.

"Here they come," she whispered to the squad.

"Let 'em go past us, then nail 'em," one of the marines on the right side of the doorway whispered, cocking his battle rifle.

The squad waited for the Covenant figures to run through the doorway. Eve breathed in. The seconds passed slowly as if time itself was slowing down. Then, light and heavy footfalls emitted from the corridor. They were quickly getting louder with each passing second. All of a sudden, the Elite and three Grunts ran out of the corridor towards the hotel entrance. The squad tightened the grip on their weapons.

"NOW!"

A barrage of gunfire exploded in the room, followed by shouting, yelling and loud thuds. After a few seconds, everything died down. The Elite and three Grunts were lying dead on the floor. The surprise attack had worked.

"Alright, let's go," Eve said.

Eve led the squad down the corridor towards the end. When they reached the end of the corridor, the squad found themselves on a concrete balcony that went around the back of the hotel. Down below them was a small road that came out of a tunnel onto the sands of a beach. The sound of the waves breaking on the shore filled the squad's ear. Several miles away on the other side of the water were the great skyscrapers of New Mombassa. Each stood well over five hundred feet tall. But they were all dwarfed by the sky elevator just a mile to the east of the city. Eve looked east and saw the long bridge go over the bay to the city on the other side.

A high pitched yell to the left of the squad caught their attention. A Grunt charged towards them from the other end of the balcony, brandishing a needler. Eve fired two shots from her plasma pistol at the Grunt, killing it.

A loud beep emitted from below. Eve looked over the edge of the balcony and saw a warthog with a machine gun turret on the back. There were two marines in the vehicle. One was driving the warthog, the other was operating the machine gun turret.

"Hey, Eve!" the driver shouted up to her. "Get in. We're headed to the bridge,"

"You go help 'em," one of the marines with Eve said to her. "We'll stay here in case anymore Covenant try to land here again,"

Eve nodded and jumped over the edge of the balcony onto the ground, which hurt a bit. Not really the smartest thing to do. Eve walked over to the warthog.

"I'll drive," she said.

"Sweet!" the marine exclaimed as he got out of the driver's seat and climbed into the passenger seat. "Now I can kill Covenant,"

Eve rolled her eyes and climbed into the driver's seat. She pressed her foot down on the accelerator. The tires screeched loudly as the warthog shot forward onto the beach. The vehicle kicked up a cloud of sand as if a dust bowl was hitting the area. Eve drove the warthog across the sand towards a large concrete wall about one hundred feet ahead.

"LOOK OUT!" one of the marines yelled.

The machine gun on the back of the warthog chattered loudly. Eve quickly looked over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of a small purple vehicle, with two wing-like sections sticking out of the front of the main section which looked a little like a seat, hovering about a two feet above the ground. It was a ghost. The Covenant's versions of a UNSC warthog, only these could only pilot one crew member, were much faster and much more powerful and deadly.

The bullets from the machine gun hit the front and sides of the ghost. The driver, a minor Elite, growled and fired a barrage of sky blue blasts from It's vehicle's built in plasma cannons at the warthog. Most of them hit the back of the warthog or the sand. Eve slammed her foot down on the brakes and spun the steering wheel round so the vehicle's left side was facing the ghost. The marine on the machine gun turret and the marine, who was armed with an MA5B assault rifle, in the passenger seat fired a barrage of bullets at the ghost. The Elite failed to react in time. The gunfire ripped through the creature's skin like paper. The Elite fell out of the ghost onto the ground. The ghost, immediately as if someone had pressed a button, stopped hovering and fell onto the sand. It lay there still like a great beast sleeping.

"That was close," Eve said.

"We may as well stay alert," the marine in the passenger seat piped up. "That's the fourth ghost we've come across today. They'll be more of them along this beach."

That'll be great fun Eve thought sarcastically.

Eve drove the warthog forward and turned right towards the wall. When they reached it, she drove the vehicle through an opening near the left end of the wall down through a wide dirt path that was between two the concrete wall on the right and another concrete wall on the left. The warthog drove down the path and turned left through a large opening. The group in the warthog found themselves back on the beach. However, there was big difference this time.

About sixty feet ahead of them was a large block shaped building with a flight of stairs going up the side onto the roof. There was a doorway on the back of the building that led inside it. A dead marine was lying at the bottom of the stairs. His blood had splattered across the wall of the building. Another marine was kneeling down on the roof. On his shoulder was a rocket launcher. A rocket fired out of the weapon over to some kind of large circular shaped platform on the sand. However, the rocket hit what was hovering above the platform, which was some kind of floating pad with three small spires sticking out of the sides up into the air. A Jackal sniper was standing on the floating pad.

BOOM! The pad exploded in several large chunks. One large piece was thrown through the air and landed about twenty feet out from the shore. The Jackal flew up into the air and landed on the sand, dead.

Eve drove the warthog towards the building. As the vehicle approached it, Eve beeped the horn. The soldier on the roof turned and waved at them. He dropped his rocket launcher and ran down the stairs to the ground. Eve pulled up alongside him.

"Am I glad to see you guys!" he exclaimed. "I thought I was a goner,"

"What happened?" Eve asked the marine.

"Me and the other marine were told to hold this area and wait for reinforcements." the marine answered. "Those ghosts swarmed in from everywhere and killed the other guy. Afterwards, when I found a rocket launcher in the building, they scattered but had distracted me long enough to put down one of those platforms,"

"DIE HUMANS!" a deep voice yelled.

The squad looked in the direction of the bridge to see a Covenant ghost zooming towards them. The soldier on the turret fired a barrage of gunfire at the alien vehicle. The Elite driving it was hit several times, causing It's shield to light up. A few final bullets broke through the Elite's shield and killed it with a shot through the chest. The ghost hit the sand of the beach and the body of the driver fell onto the ground.

"I'll tag along with you guys," the marine standing next to the warthog said.

The marine ran over to the ghost and got in. Almost immediately afterwards, the vehicle activated and lifted up off of the ground.

"I always wanted to drive one of these," he muttered under his breath.

"Which way should we go now?" the marine in the warthog's passenger seat asked.

"We'll head towards the bridge," Eve answered.

Eve drove the warthog away from the building towards another long concrete wall. The marine driving the ghost followed. Coming off the front of that wall was a long and wide metal girder that disappeared beneath the water of the bay. Far away on the other side was the bridge. The squad would only have to go across the next stretch of beach and they would be there. They could then drive across the bridge and link up with any soldiers in New Mombassa.

As the two vehicles were about fifty feet from the wall, two more ghosts suddenly shot out from behind the wall. They flew over the girder and charged towards the warthog and now human controlled ghost.

At once, a barrage of gunfire from the warthog flew at the two Covenant ghosts, who swerved around the warthog to avoid the bullets. The marine piloting his ghost was having trouble. He could drive it, but he was finding it hard trying to fire at the same time. Two blasts flew out from his ghost's plasma cannon and hit one of the Elite's. The Elite growled and zoomed his ghost towards the marine. The marine in the Covenant vehicle began to panic and, in his fear of trying to get away from the Elite, ended up disabling his ghost, causing it to deactivate and fall onto the sand. The Elite laughed.

_This human is an easy target!_ it thought menacingly.

Eve saw this and drove the warthog at full speed towards the marine's ghost. The Elite sped his ghost up, as if it was intending to kill the marine by crashing into it. However, he failed to notice the warthog. The marines in the warthog fired at the Elite's ghost. The barrage of bullets was too much for it.

BOOM! The ghost exploded into a fireball and crashed into the ground just metres from the marine's ghost. The marine in the ghost breathed a sigh of relief. The marine on the warthog's turret then swung the weapon round and fired at the other ghost just as it was launching a charge on the warthog from behind. The Elite was hit and fell out of the ghost onto the ground, dead.

"Thanks," the marine in the ghost, which he had finally managed to get working again, said as he hovered the vehicle over to the warthog.

"It's okay," Eve replied. "Alright, let's keep moving,"

Eve drove the warthog towards the wall; the ghost followed. When they reached the edge, the two vehicles drove around the wall onto another stretch of beach. They were in for a shock.

Eve had hoped a large road or motorway would lead to the bridge. There was nothing. Only the walls of a tunnel that led out between the buildings of Old Mombassa towards the water then turned left in the direction of the bridge. There was no way towards the bridge from this beach.

Eve growled in frustration

"This is just great!" she said sarcastically. "We come all this way and there's no roads of anything that will take us to the beach."

"The options we've got now are to either turn back and drive around or call a pelican to pick us up and take us to the bridge." the marine in the passenger seat replied.

_"Don't worry,"_ Auto's voice erupted from his com. _"I've called for evac. We'll just have to stay here until it arrives,"_

A loud whirring sound filled the air. It was coming from the direction of the city. The squad looked towards New Mombassa and saw a Covenant phantom flying towards them. It's three enormous plasma cannons fired a barrage down at the warthog and ghost. Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The warthog shot forward like a bullet. The ghost zoomed after it. When the two vehicles were about fifty feet away from where they had just been, they stopped. The crew looked back over at the phantom. It was hovering not far above the ground. Maybe it was landing. If it was, the squad would have a real fight with Covenant infantry on their hands.

The phantom hovered back up into the air again and flew off towards the city. However, it had dropped two Covenant vehicles onto the sands. Ghosts. Two of them. Again, they were controlled by Elites. The two ghosts zoomed towards the warthog and hijacked ghost at full speed, firing a barrage of plasma blasts at them. The marine in the ghost was hit in the chest by a blast. The impact threw him onto the ground and a pool of scarlet sand formed around him.

Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator. However, she did not drove away from the ghosts, she was driving towards them!

"Eve, what the hell are doing?" the marine on the turret shouted to her.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" Eve shouted back.

The two ghosts zoomed towards the warthog at full speed. Both were firing madly at the warthog, which It's turret and marine in the passenger seat firing on the ghosts. Neither were moving out of the way. It was as if two bulls, were exhausted from fighting each other for hours on end, refused to give up and wanted to deliver the final blow to their opponent.

Finally, the Elites turned their ghosts away from the warthog's path, one to the left and one to the right. Big mistake, then again crashing into the warthog would be a big mistake as well. The marine on the warthog turret fired at the ghost on the left. The bullets hit it and caused the vehicle to explode into a fireball. He then fired at the ghost on the right, causing the Elite in that one to follow the same fate as his comrade.

When the ghosts were destroyed, Eve scanned the sky to see if she could spot a pelican.

A small shape coming from Old Mombassa caught her attention. As it came closer, she saw it was a pelican. Yes! Now they could get a lift to the bridge and get across the bay to the city.

The pelican stopped over the stretch of beach and began to descend. However, when it was about twenty feet above the ground the pelican stopped.

"What the hell's it doing?" the marine on the warthog's turret asked.

He got his answer when the pelican turned to face the tunnel.

BOOM! A large section of the tunnel's wall exploded, causing it to cave in. Some of the rubble formed a path from the sand onto the side of the tunnel. Two missiles had flown out from the pelican and hit the wall. The pelican began to ascend

_"Eve. This is the pilot. I can't take you guys by air. The Covenant have got a swarm of banshees lurking around somewhere. Command's ordered no pickups, unless in dire situations, to be carried out until the banshee threat is dealt with."_

Eve cursed under her breath. Oh, well. At least they could now get to the bridge.

_"Roger that,"_ Auto said through his com. _"Thanks for making the hole."_

"Good luck."

Eve drove the warthog towards the hole in the tunnel. Above them the pelican flew back over the buildings Old Mombassa, disappearing from view.

_"This tunnel does lead straight onto the bridge,"_ Auto explained. _"It's full of rats, if you guys know what I mean."_

"At least it beats swimming," Eve piped up.

The warthog jolted slightly as it drove up the rubble into the tunnel The tunnel had a metal tarmac road that went straight before turning left. Along the right side of the tunnel, which had not been destroyed by the pelican, was some kind of walkway for people if they could not get across the bridge by car. The tunnel was lit up by some lights on the road and on the walls. However, the pelican's missiles had dimmed them so the tunnel ahead was only just lit up enough.

Eve drove the warthog forward down the tunnel towards the end. When she reached it, she turned the warthog left down into the next tunnel and drove down that one.

"How many Covenant are in this tunnel?" the marine in the passenger seat asked.

"Not many," Auto replied through his com. "Our boys have managed to secure most of this side of the bay but there's still a few pockets of the Covenant scattered around. Most of them are in this tunnel."

Eve slammed her foot down on the brakes, causing the wheels to screech loudly. The reason; about sixty feet ahead was a large pile of rubble, which had been part of the tunnel's roof. On the top of that pile of rubble were two Covenant Jackals with activated shields, which Eve could easily see through the dim light. The warthog's screeching tires brought their attention to the vehicle. They raised their plasma pistols and fired at the human vehicle.

The marine on the turret fired a barrage of gunfire at the Jackals. The bullets easily broke through the shields and threw both down the pile of rubble to the tarmac. Eve drove the warthog forward again. She swerved around the pile of rubble, giving the three in the warthog a clear view of the sky outside, before driving on again.

"I've picked up movement not far up ahead," Auto warned. "Something big,"

"I hope It's not that thing the Covenant have sent in," Eve replied.

Up ahead, the tunnel came to a slight left curve. Eve drove round the curve into another straight part of the tunnel. Then, she saw them.

About forty feet ahead of them were two large shapes, travelling single file, that were hovering about two feet above the ground. They were shaped like archways, had a large bulge at the front, two large seat-like things sticking out of the top behind a Covenant shade turret built into the thing and there were four of the wing-like sections, like those on ghosts, on the vehicle. Two at the front and two at the back. The shapes were a dark purple colour. These were Covenant vehicles, not hard to tell as they were moving. The UNSC called them Shadows. They are mainly used for transporting light Covenant vehicles and infantry.

In the archways of both shadows were two ghosts. The shadows were crawling with Covenant. On both turrets was a Grunt, an Elite was driving and there were three Jackals on the seat thing on the top of the vehicles. The turrets fired a barrage of blasts at the warthog. The marine on the warthog's turret fired a barrage of gunfire at the shadows. One of the Grunts was hit and yelled loudly as it fell out of the seat onto the side of the tarmac. Another round hit a Jackal as it fired a shot, killing it.

"The Covenant must be trying to regroup," Auto said through his com. "We can't let them,"

"Fire on the vehicles," Eve ordered as she sped up the warthog so it was alongside the back shadow.

The marine in the passenger seat fired at the Elite, causing It's shield to light up. The Elite growled and drove the shadow to the right, almost hitting the front of the warthog and pushing it on It's sides. Eve slammed her foot down on the brakes and drove forward around the left side of the shadow. The marine on the turret fired away at the vehicle. A pillar of smoke rose up out of the back of the vehicle. Then, a fire erupted out of the top of the archway and bulge at the front. The three heard the Elite scream. The shadow drove erratically from left to right down the metal road.

CRASH! The shadow hit the left wall at full speed. The warthog screeched to a halt to avoid the erratic vehicle. The bulge was crushed along with the Elite. The two ghosts fell off of the archway onto the metal road. The two remaining Jackals fell off the top of the shadow and hit the road. They did not get up afterwards. The impact on the floor must have broken their necks.

"One down, one to go," Eve muttered under breath.

She drove the warthog forward. It pushed aside the two ghosts under the archway and drove full speed after the other shadow, which was about thirty feet ahead of them. The marine on the warthog's turret fired at the shadow. One of the Jackals was hit and fell onto the metal road. The Grunt on the shadow's turret fired a barrage of blasts at the warthog. Eve drove the warthog from left to right to avoid them.

Eve sped up the warthog to It's full speed. When the warthog was alongside the shadow, Eve drove the side of the vehicle into the side of the shadow's bulge. The Elite driving the shadow fell out of the bulge through the left entrance onto the metal road, causing the vehicle to come to a halt. The marine on the warthog's turret and the marine in the passenger seat fired up at the Grunt on the shadow's turret. The Grunt was hit. However, as the body fell out of the turret's seat, it pushed the turret round. The front of the turret hit a Jackal, pushing it off of the top of the shadow onto the metal floor. The marine in the passenger seat finished the Jackal off with a burst of ammo to It's head.

When the last Jackal had been dealt with, Eve scanned the tunnel.

"I think that's the last of them," she said.

"Let's hope so," the marine on the warthog's turret replied.

Suddenly, the warthog was lifted about three feet off of the metal floor. Eve looked at the back of the warthog to see the Elite, who had been driving the shadow, driving a ghost. The marine on the warthog's turret fired a barrage of ammo at the Elite, hitting it in the head and chest, killing it.

"Alright, let's move on," Eve said.

The warthog drove down the tunnel towards the end. Up ahead was another turning that led right. When the warthog reached the end of the tunnel, Eve turned the vehicle right and drove down the tunnel. This tunnel, however, went up like a ramp. The group in the warthog saw why.

About one hundred feet ahead was a large entrance that gave a clear view of the sky and the tops of the skyscrapers of New Mombassa. As the warthog got closer to the entrance, Eve and the marines could see two tall spires sticking up out of the iron sides of a bridge.

"We made it!" Eve exclaimed. "We made it to the bridge!"

"Finally," the marine in the passenger seat said. "Now we can link up with any marines,"

Eve drove the warthog up the ramp towards the tunnel exit. When they reached it, the three saw the bridge lead straight ahead over the bay to New Mombassa. Railings went along the edge of the tarmac, separating it from a path that people could use to walk across the bridge. Scattered over the bridge's tarmac were abandoned cars, truck and even a few buses. There were even a few holes in the tarmac and on the side of the bridge.

"Eve," a woman's voice shouted.

Eve looked over towards the left side of the bridge. A female marine, armed with a battle rifle, was waving over at her. Lying down on the tarmac against an abandoned car was a male marine, also armed with a battle rifle. Eve drove the warthog over to the two and got out.

"Boy, are we glad to see you," the female marine said. "We have not been lucky so far,"

"Why, what happened?" Eve asked her.

"That damn thing the Covenant have dropped into the city," the female marine answered, pointing down towards the other end of the bridge. Eve and the two marines, who had out of the warthog, looked and saw the back of the enormous machine Eve saw earlier. It climbed over a small building on the other side of the bridge and disappeared from sight.

"Damn thing blew right through our squad!" the woman said. "50 cal., rockets. Didn't even put a dent in it. We even had missiles launched from a pelican and that didn't work,"

"That thing is indestructible!" the marine sitting against the abandoned car said as he stood up. "There were fifteen of us and that damn thing either completely blew 'em apart or sent them flying to the bottom of the bay."

"Jeez," Eve replied, aghast.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. The squad looked up and saw a pelican hovering down towards them. Outside the resting area, being held by large metal pincers, was a large tank with a huge surface and a powerful cannon and machine gun that rose up out of the tank near the back of the vehicle. The old Scorpion tank. Eve had used one of these on Halo, and boy did it give the Covenant a good beating.

The pelican dropped the scorpion tank on the bridge a few feet away from the squad. Sergeant John then jumped down from the pelican's resting area onto the ground.

"I'm glad you made it over here," he said to Eve. He turned to face the woman marine. "What happened to your squad?" he asked her.

"Wasted, Sarge," the woman replied. "That freaking robot thing the Covenant have dropped into the city tore us apart."

"And the same thing will happen to us, sir," the marine who was with the woman marine when Eve turned up. "We need to get the hell out of here,"

He turned to walk towards the pelican. John, however, rested a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"You hit, marine?" he asked the soldier.

"N-no, sir," the marine replied, stammering slightly.

"Then listen up!" John announced. "You had your chance to be afraid before you joined my beloved Corps. But to guide you back to the true path, I brought this motivational device. Our big green style cannot be defeated!"

"What about that thing, Sarge?" the woman marine asked him. "We used rockets, 50 cal and even a barrage of missiles form a pelican. I doubt the scorpion tank will do anything,"

"We've all run the stimulations," John answered. "The Covenant are tough, they're not invincible. Stay with Eve she'll know what to do,"

"Thank for the tank," Eve said to John as he walked back over to the pelican. "Usually when I'm stuck with Auto, we end using a ghost or a warthog."

_"Haha, very funny Eve," _Auto replied sarcastically through his com.

John grabbed hold of the pelican and pulled himself into the resting area.

"Oh, I know what the ladies like," he muttered under his breath.

The pelican hovered back up into the air. When it was about twenty feet above the bridge, it flew off towards the right end of New Mombassa.

"We better get moving," Eve said.

Eve walked over to the scorpion tank. She climbed onto it, opened the hatch and climbed down into the tank.

"Anyone care to join me?" she asked as she disappeared into the tank.

The squad ran over to the tank and climbed onto the sides of the tank. Like back on Halo, there were four bars where a marine could sit on the side of a tank and hold onto the bar whilst they were firing at any enemies.

A low rumbling sound filled the air as the tank drove onto the bridge. The soldiers kept their weapons close and looked up into the sky every few seconds to make sure they were not going to be surprised. They had heard of the banshee threat lurking around the city so they were ready to fire on anything that looked Covenant as soon as they saw it.

BOOM! The tank shook as a shot fired out from the main cannon at an abandoned bus about thirty metres ahead. The bus exploded and the body of an Elite flew through the air and disappeared through a hole in the bridge's tarmac.

"Look out. Here come more of 'em!" one of the male marines shouted.

He was right. Not far behind the bus were two ghosts zooming towards the scorpion tank. Luckily, Eve had a small computer screen of the bridge on the control panel in front of her, showing her a view of the landscape wherever the cannon pointed. She saw the ghosts zooming towards the tank.

"Easy targets," she muttered under her breath.

BOOM! The tank shook again as another shot fired out from the tank's main cannon. One of the ghosts was hit and exploded into a fireball, throwing the body of the Elite over the side of the bridge into the bay below. The marines on the tank's sides fired a barrage of gunfire at the other ghost, hitting and killing the Elite.

The tank rumbled again as Eve drove it forward across the bridge. A few bullets from the machine gun rang out as they were heading down the bridge. Another ghost had come out from behind a few abandoned cars and tried to stop the tank, only to have the Elite driving the vehicle fell onto the bridge's tarmac, dead.

Suddenly, a blast hit the back of the tank. One of the female marines looked up into the sky and saw two large cylindrical shaped craft with two thin connectors coming out of both sides to an engine flying towards them. They were banshees.

"Eve! Banshees are behind us!" the female marine shouted.

The main cannon turned to face the two craft. BOOM! Another shot flew out at the banshees. One was hit and broken in two. The remains fell over the side of the bridge. The other banshee, however, fired an ion blast at the tank's cannon. The cannon swerved around and fired another shot at the banshee as it flew over the tank, but missed. Luckily, the marines were ready. A barrage of gunfire flew up at the Covenant fighter, hitting the legs of the Elite piloting the craft. The machine gun next to the main cannon also fired at the banshee. Finally, after a few seconds of being repeatedly hit by gunfire, the banshee exploded. The body and the remains fell down into the bay below.

"That's two banshees down," the female marine said.

"Yeah, but another million to go knowing the Covenant," one of the male marines replied.

Eve continued driving the tank across the bridge towards the city. The skyscrapers slowly got bigger as the tank approached them. They were now just under three quarters of the way across.

"PHANTOM!" one of the male marines yelled, pointing out over the side of the bridge.

Eve heard the marine's yell and turned the cannon to face the side of the bridge. He was right. A phantom had tried to slip past the tank unnoticed. The reason was probably because it was carrying a wraith tank underneath it where the Covenant troops would enter and exit the craft. Eve fired a shot out of the main cannon at the phantom, hitting one of the turrets and causing it to fall into the bay. The other two turrets turned to face the tank and fired at it. Another shot flew out of the cannon and hit the wraith. Bull's-eye! The shot must have destroyed whatever was holding the wraith in place because as soon as it was hit, the wraith fell from the phantom to the water below. The phantom flew away towards the city faster than it usually went.

"Nice one, Eve!" one of the male marines exclaimed. "No one messes with the UNSC!"

Eve rolled her eyes and drove the tank onwards. Another two ghosts zoomed up the bridge towards the tank, but Eve spotted them and blew them apart before they could do any damage. Finally, the tank reached the end of the bridge. The marines gazed at the city around them.

The skyscrapers of New Mombassa towered over them like giants. Most of them were well over a thousand feet tall. Even though they were quite tightly packed together, wide roads ran between them and sometimes even highways. This really was a metropolis of the future.

"I didn't expect to see New Mombassa in the middle of a war," the female marine said.

"Join the club," one of the male marines replied. "Alright, we got time for sightseeing later. Let's move on,"

Eve drove the tank on towards two tunnels about fifty feet ahead. The tunnel on the left was closed with a holographic sign going across it saying Evacuation. The tunnel on the right led down under the buildings on the other side of the wall the tunnels started at. Eve drove towards the right tunnel. However, when they were about twenty feet from it a large shape hovered out of the tunnel. It was a wraith.

Eve fired a shot out of the main cannon at the wraith, causing it to shake. The wraith retaliated by firing a mortar blast at the tank. It missed but only by a few inches, although it almost tipped the tank over when it exploded on the ground next to the tank.

BOOM! Another shot fired out at the wraith. BOOM! The wraith exploded into a fireball. The body of the Elite driver was thrown several feet into the air as the Covenant vehicle hit the ground.

"Nice one, Eve," one of the male marines shouted. "Let's move on,"

The tank drove on into the right tunnel. Like the bridge, the tunnel was littered with abandoned cars. The tank slid down part of the way as the tunnel's angle was at a 110 degree angle. Luckily, the tank reached the bottom and carried on down a straight path. However, Eve had to bring the tank to a stop.

"Damn!" one of the male soldiers said as he got off the tank along with the other marines.

Eve opened the hatch. She cursed under her breath. Not far up ahead was a raised lower half of a tunnel door. Further on behind that was another tunnel door fully closed. Eve sighed through gritted teeth and climbed down off of the tank.

"That's just freaking great!" she hissed. "We really need this tank and now we have to leave it!"

"Oh, well," Auto replied. "It could have been worse."

"I suppose," Eve sighed.

"Eve!" a voice exclaimed.

Eve looked ahead at a pathway along the right wall of the tunnel for people to walk on. A squad of four marines were standing next to the lower half of the first tunnel door. Eve ran over to the squad with her marines. She jumped up onto the path to the squad. A marine, armed with a battle rifle and a shotgun, greeted her.

"Good that your here, Eve," he said. "That machine is causing havoc out there and the Covenant are trying to clear a path for it through our defences,"

"Don't worry," Eve replied. "Let's go drive them out of the city for good,"

The marine turned to the squad.

"Alright, you heard her," he announced. "Let's move out!"

The squad turned and ran along the pathway towards the fully closed tunnel doorway. Eve went to follow but the marine she was talking to quickly stopped her.

"It'll be a tight battle coming up, Eve," he said, handing her the shotgun. "Use this,"

"Thanks," Eve replied, taking the shotgun

She needed a new weapon anyway because she left her last weapon in the warthog on the other side of the bridge.

Eve joined the squad as they ran along the pathway. However, when they reached the fully closed door, which led into a tunnel that also ended on a fully closed door and had an exit about half-way down the right wall, a barrage of blast fire stopped them. The squad dived behind the side of the door to avoid the deadly blasts. Two of the marines were not fats enough getting to cover and were killed by blast fire to their heads, which did spray some blood over the walls and floor behind them.

Eve ran over the bodies of the two dead marines, through the gap between the wall and the tunnel door and jumped down onto the road. A barrage of blast flew at her but, thankfully, all of them missed. Eve ran behind an abandoned car. It was a good thing that there were abandoned vehicles in this part of the tunnel, but it was also a bad thing because the Covenant here could use them as cover as well.

Eve poked her head out from behind the car she was hiding behind, only to jerk it back as a blast narrowly missed her face. She then heard light footfalls slowly get louder. One of them was coming this way. Eve tightened her grip on the shotgun. A shadow rose on another car just a few feet in front of her. It was a Grunt. Suddenly, it stopped. Eve saw the shadow of the arm move into It's body and then take something out. Oh no! Eve knew what it was.

A burst of ammo exploded in the tunnel. A yell followed. Eve had fired a burst of ammo at the Grunt before it could throw the plasma grenade, which she could see in It's open hand lying on the tunnel floor. Eve grabbed the plasma grenade and quickly jumped over the car to avoid a barrage of blasts from other Covenant soldiers near an abandoned bus.

Eve pressed her thumb down on the plasma grenade's orange thunderbolt. The device lit up into a blue fire. Eve then stood up and threw the grenade over to the abandoned bus. She knelt down behind the car and covered her ears.

BOOM! The plasma grenade exploded, causing the bus and two small cars to explode as well. When the explosions ceased, Eve, cautiously, stood up and raised her shotgun. She walked out from behind the car and scanned the area. The explosion of the grenade and the bus had caused the vehicles to move several feet from where they had been. On the floor were the bodies of an Elite, two Jackals and a few Grunts.

"It's clear," Eve called to the squad.

The marines stood up or walked out from their hiding places.

"Nice one, Eve," one of them said. "Alright, let's move on,"

The marines ran along the pathway towards the exit on the wall. Eve jumped up onto the pathway and followed them. The squad ran through the doorway down a small corridor and turned left into another corridor. After reaching the end of this corridor, they turned right into another corridor. Up ahead was an exit that led outside. The squad ran to the end of the corridor outside onto a concrete pathway.

They found themselves inside some kind of bow-like shaped park. Surrounding the park were the tall skyscrapers of downtown New Mombassa. Like most of Earth's cities, there was always a natural place in them. Whether it was small or enormous or had lots of green of little green, it was still a beautiful natural place

The concrete pathway went carried on around much of the park's walls to the ground. There was a large gap in the walls about twenty feet from either of the pathway's ends. Scattered around the park was a small fountain with a few trees and bushes.

The sound of something large and mechanical moving outside park caught the squad's attention. The squad looked to their left and saw the back of the massive machine go over a small building and disappear between a tall skyscraper.

"That's what we need to destroy," one of the marines in the squad said.

"Problem is; how?" Eve asked. "It was hard enough with the scorpion but now that we don't have it, It'll be harder to destroy."

The sound of tires caught the squad's attention. They looked down at the park's ground to see a warthog, armed with a grenade launcher, drive into the park. Two more warthogs, both armed with machine gun turrets, followed. There were only the drivers in the three vehicles. Then, one of the warthog's beeped their horn.

"C'mon," Eve said. "Let's get down there,"

Eve ran left along the concrete pathway towards the end that led onto the ground. When they reached the end, the drivers of the warthogs drove up to them.

"Are we glad to see you," the driver of the warthog with the grenade launcher said in a relieved tone. "We thought we were goners,"

"What happened?" one of the marines of Eve's squad asked.

"We got sent out to pick up any survivors when that… thing the Covenant have dropped into the city came into our area with a huge escort of ghosts and a few wraiths." the soldier explained. "They attacked the command post our commander's at and killed the passengers and gunners of our warthogs. We only just made it out of there."

"Well you better get ready because we're going back," Eve told the soldier. "We have to drive the Covenant from the city,"

"Oh great," the driver of one of the machine gun warthogs muttered. "We almost lose our heads and now we have to go back."

Eve ignored him.

"Alright, c'mon, everyone on," she ordered.

Eve took the driver's place of the grenade launcher warthog. The soldier who had been driving got onto the warthog's turret. Another soldier took the passenger seat. Two more marines manned the passenger seat and turret of the machine gun warthog behind the warthog Eve was in. The same thing with the other machine gunned warthog. The last soldier ran over to the gap in the wall.

"I'll check and see if It's clear," he said as he ran past the warthogs.

The marine pressed is back against the wall and peeked his head around the corner. Just as he did, a blast hit him in the face. The marine fell to the ground, dead. A second later, two ghosts zoomed out from behind the wall into the courtyard. As usual, they were being piloted by Elites.

At once, a barrage of gunfire exploded in the park. The marine on the grenade launcher turret fired two grenades at one of the ghosts. Both hit it and caused it to explode into a fireball which tore the vehicle to pieces. The machine guns of the other two warthogs fired away at the other ghost. The bullets broke through the Elite's shield and embedded themselves in the Elite's chest, killing it. The ghost hit the ground and the body of the alien fell onto the ground.

"Alright, let's go," Eve announced.

Eve reversed the warthog before driving right through the gap in the walls; the other two warthog's followed. Eve drove her warthog left down the path towards an opening in some kind of block shaped building to the right. When the warthog reached it, she turned left into the building. The inside was just a wide tunnel about four warthogs wide that led to a main road on the other side of the building. Eve drove the warthog down the tunnel onto the main road. The other two warthogs followed.

The soldiers in the warthogs found themselves on a main road that led right up a short slope surface before going onto a straight surface again. To the left was a large closed tunnel door. On it was another holographic sign saying Evacuation. The buildings along the other side of the road were separate sky scrapers that formed up the big tall ones you would see from the bridge or across the bay in Old Mombassa. The road on the flat surface after the slope carried on left.

Several explosions and blasts could be heard erupting from down that road. Eve drove her warthog up the slope towards the road at the top. The other warthogs followed. When they reached the road that led left, the soldiers saw that the road ended on a curve outside a hotel building. About halfway down the road was a pedestrian crossing that stretched from two large gasp in the sides of two skyscrapers, one either side of the road, and was wide enough for a scorpion tank to be placed on. However, the squad were also greeted with a shocking sight.

Several destroyed ghosts and large chunks of their armour were lying scattered across the road. Several marines were lying dead, their bodies scattered across the road. The remains of a warthog were lying on their side against the bottom of a skyscraper on the right side of the road. Two wraiths were firing mortar blasts on the building at the end of the road. Eve could see, though only just, several marines running around the building's main entrance on the ground floor and on some balcony about forty feet from the ground.

"C'mon, we have to help them!" Eve said.

Eve drove the warthog at full speed towards the wraiths. The other warthogs followed. When they were just a few metres from the deadly Covenant mortar tanks, the marines on the turrets fired away at them. One of the wraiths turned and fired a mortar shell at one of the machine gun warthogs as it was driving down the road towards hotel building. The driver slammed his foot down on the brakes, bringing the warthog to a halt about six feet from the mortar shell as it exploded on the ground. That was a close call.

BOOM! One of the wraiths exploded, having taken too many hits by the grenade launcher warthog. Large chunks of It's armour were scattered over the road and nearby pavement. The body of the driving Elite flew out of the wraith's driving seat onto the ground.

"One down, one to go," Eve said.

Eve drove her warthog around the other wraith. The marine on the grenade launcher turret fired at the enormous vehicle. A pillar of smoke began to rise up out of the vehicle. It was almost destroyed. One of the machine gun warthogs drove past, It's gunner firing a barrage of bullets at the vehicle.

BOOM! The wraith exploded into a fireball. Armour was scattered across the road. The body of the Elite flew up into the air and landed on the ground.

Just as the second wraith had been destroyed, a marine ran out of the hotel and waved at the warthogs. Eve saw him and pulled her warthog up in front of him.

"Eve!" he exclaimed. "Corporal Perez, A-Company! CP's this way! The lieutenant got here as soon as we dropped in."

The other two warthogs parked up outside the hotel entrance. Eve watched the marines as they got out of the warthogs and ran inside the hotel.

"Thanks for bringing extra support," Perez said to Eve. "We almost got overwhelmed earlier,"

"It's alright," Eve replied.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve looked up and saw a pelican lowering down towards the pedestrian crossing. It was holding a scorpion tank. The pelican dropped the vehicle on the pedestrian crossing and three marines got out. One set up a deployable machine gun next to the tank whilst the other two got on the side of the tank.

Looks like the UNSC intends to hold this part of the city Eve thought.

"Who's in charge now, corporal?" Auto asked through his com.

"Uh… Sergeant Banks, sir," Perez answered. "He's up top. Follow me,"

Perez turned and ran inside the building; Eve followed.

The entrance room was a large square shape with a counter sticking several feet out from the back wall. Scattered around this room, instead of furniture or plants, were large ammo crates and weapons. A flight of stairs went up on the right wall. Several marines were kneeling down behind the counter, their battle rifles aimed directly at the door. Another marine was manning a deployable machine gun near the left wall.

Perez ran up the flight of stairs; Eve followed. The two ran up these steps, turned left down a corridor then turned left again and ran up another flight of steps. When they reached this flight of stairs, they turned left once more into a long corridor. Some of the marines that had been in the warthogs were lying against the wall for a rest. At the other end of the corridor was a door that led onto the balcony. Eve and Perez ran down the corridor. The door opened automatically as they approached it.

The two ran out onto the balcony. At the left end were some stairs leading onto the hotel's roof. At the right end was a twenty five foot tall antennae tower. Three other marines were on the balcony, their guns aimed over the balcony up the road as if they knew something was coming and were preparing to fire on it the moment it came round the corner.

"When I asked for reinforcements, I didn't think they'd send you, Eve," Eve turned to see a tall black marine, armed with a battle rifle, about six foot tall with a radio on his back.

"I'm sergeant Banks," he said holding up his hand, which Eve shook. The two then let go and lowered their hands. "We've driven the Covenant from the city," he said. "But as long as that thing they've dropped here is still alive, they're not gonna leave so quickly."

BOOM! An explosion erupted from the other end of the road. The squad looked over at the other end and saw a green laser hit the side of a building. Not even a second later, the front of a large machine came out from behind the skyscraper on the road's right corner turning. Eve gasped. It was the machine that had been terrorizing UNSC forces in the city.

The scorpion tank on the pedestrian crossing fired a shot at the machine's leg. This did not even put a dent in the armour. It did, however, attract the machine's attention. The large cannon on the front of the machine opened up. The green light charged up and fired. In an instant, the tank was completely obliterated.

"Okay, see this look! It's terror!" Perez shouted in a panicked tone, pointed at his terror-stricken face to prove his point.

"Marine, did I give you permission to bitch?" Banks asked the marine, who abruptly shut his mouth.

The machine moved out from behind the skyscraper and began marching up the road towards the skyscraper. It looked like some kind of monster rampaging through the city. When it reached the pedestrian crossing, the bottom of the machine's front legs tore through them, creating two large piles of rubble in the middle of both roads.

"I don't think the Scarab's stopping," Banks said as the machine got closer.

"Is that what It's called?" Eve asked, raising her battle rifle at the machine as a look of panic came upon her face.

"Yeah." Banks answered. "Oh, crap! Get your heads down!"

The squad dived to the balcony's floor. The enormous machine's front legs rose up onto the top surface of something on the hotel's roof. It pulled itself up over the squad. The back legs then passed over the top of the hotel, knocking over the antennae tower. The antennae fell over the edge of the balcony onto the ground below.

Banks growled as he and squad stood up.

"That thing is really starting to PISS ME OFF!" he shouted.

"What the hell do we do?" Perez asked.

"Marines," Banks said. "Time to kill us a scarab,"

Banks ran past Eve up the stairs onto the roof. Eve, Perez and the other two marines followed him. The roof's surface was completely flat. At the other end of it was a large block shaped building with a huge entrance door on the front of it. The rear of the scarab disappeared behind the side of the building.

"It's heading into the canals!" Banks exclaimed. "C'mon!"

Banks ran over to the block shaped building. Eve and the marines followed. They burst through the door into a large square shaped room with a large block shaped crate in the corner. On the opposite wall was another door that led outside. The squad ran over to the door. Banks kicked it open. The squad ran outside.

The squad found themselves on a railing walkway that ran along the edge of the hotel building seventy above a canal. Several railing bridges went over the canal to large square shaped entrances on the opposite side of the canal. Eve looked right and saw the canal turn left. She could just make out the end of the buildings and the edge of the bay. They had travelled all the way across the city to the other side!

The sound of something large and mechanical moving caught the squad's attention. Eve looked to her left and saw the scarab coming into the canal. It moved down the canal towards the other end. On the surface of the vehicle's main section were Covenant troops. Grunts, Elites and Jackals. They fired a barrage of blasts at the squad as the scarab passed them.

"Open fire!" Banks ordered.

At once, a barrage of gunfire flew at the Covenant. A Grunt yelled loudly as it was hit. It flipped sideways onto the scarab's floor, dead. An Elite standing near the dead Grunt growled and fired to blue blasts up at the squad. Eve ducked, narrowly avoiding them.

Eve got up and ran along the railing walkway after the scarab. One of the Jackals spotted her and fired a charged blast at her. It missed and hit the wall. Eve fired a burst of ammo from her shotgun at the creature, killing it with a hit to the head.

"It's too powerful to destroy from the outside," Auto said. "Looks like we'll have to board it and find a way to take it down from the inside,"

"How do I board it?" Eve asked him.

"Wait on one of the railing bridges until it passes over." Auto answered. "Then jump down onto it and find a way inside,"

Eve nodded and ran along the walkway until she came across one of the railing bridges about fifty feet from the canal's corner. Eve ran onto the bridge and watched as the scarab walked underneath it. Eve breathed in. She had to make sure she did not miss, otherwise she would die and there would be no other way to stop the scarab.

The scarab was now half-way under the bridge. Eve prayed she would not miss. She breathed in and jumped.

The fall only lasted a second before Eve landed near the back of the archway going across the scarab's main section. Although, she landed painfully on her side. Eve groaned as she got up. That really hurt. Well, at least she was on the scarab.

"Eve!" a voice shouted.

Eve looked up and saw Banks, Perez and the other two marines running along the walkway after the scarab.

"We'll cover you!" Banks shouted to her. "Find a way inside and try and shut it down or destroy it!"

Eve nodded and jumped over the side of the archway onto the floor of the scarab's main section. As she did, a barrage of gunfire flew at the few remaining Grunts, Elites and Jackals left on the top of the scarab's main section. A Jackal a few feet in front of Eve was hit and fell to the floor, dead. Two grunts tried to flee behind the walls of the archway for protection. However, they were killed by two bursts of ammo from Perez's battle rifle.

As the Covenant were mown down on the main section's roof, Eve looked down the main section and saw an entrance going down into the scarab. That was it! Maybe there was a way she could disable or destroy the machine down there. Eve ran down the main section towards the entrance down into the scarab.

Suddenly, Eve found herself lying on her back on the floor. An Elite had grabbed her round the waist and pinned her down. Eve quickly brought her knees in and launch a two foot kick at the creature's stomach. The Elite roared in pain and staggered backwards, It's arms round It's stomach because of Eve's powerful kick. Eve got up, grabbed the Elite's arm and , with all her strength, threw the creature over the edge of the scarab. The Elite screamed loudly as it fell into the canal, only to stop abruptly when a loud splash was heard.

Eve ran down the path, which was like a slope, into the machine. The path ended near the back wall. Eve ran around the path's wall. She gasped.

In front of her was a long and wide control room that had purple coloured walls, floor and ceiling. About half-way down the control room was a large barricade-like wall that left a three foot gap it and the walls. Along the barricade and the walls were control screens, control panels and many lights and switches. At the other end of the control room, Eve could just see the edge of a large holographic screen.

However, Eve could also two major Elites and two Grunts with silver armour. Ultra Grunts. Eve had seen an image of one of these during the training on Reach. They were the top rank of the Grunts and, other than the Special Ops Grunts, were the only ones who did not go down without a fight. Luckily, for the moment, the Covenant troops were at work at a computer screen or control panel with their backs to Eve. She had to think of something fast.

"We have to be careful," Auto whispered to Eve. "These ultra's are not going to be pushover's like in the past,"

"What I'm worried about is how we are going to take out this entire group of Covenant," Eve whispered back. "There's majors and ultra's here. Not a good combination of Covenant troops at all."

As Eve finished talking, one of the Grunts turned to walk over to another control panel. Suddenly, he spotted Eve.

"DEMON!" he screamed.

Before Eve had time to react, the major Elites whipped out a plasma rifle, turned and aimed their weapons at Eve. To make things worse, an Elite with silver armour ran out from behind the barricade and activated an energy sword. An Ultra Elite. The two ultra-Grunts took out a plasma pistol each and aimed them at Eve. This was not good.

"What do we do now?" Eve asked Auto in a panicked tone as the Covenant troops began to step towards her.

"I don't know," Auto replied. "Maybe we should just run up onto the scarab's surface and try and get Banks to hel-"

Auto was suddenly cut off when the scarab shook wildly, throwing Eve, the Covenant troops and their weapons to the floor. The ultra-Elite fell back onto the major Elites, who knocked over the Grunts. Eve got up when the shaking stopped and saw the Covenant lying on the floor. Now was her chance. Eve grabbed her shotgun and fired two bursts at the Grunts as they stood up, killing them. She then fired two bursts of ammo at the major Elites, killing them as well. The ultra-Elite shot up from the floor and grabbed It's energy sword. Eve, however, was too quick for the alien.

CLICK! What the…? CLICK! Oh no. She was out of ammo! The Elite laughed and swung It's energy sword at Eve, who yelped and ducked. The sword narrowly missed her by a few inches and hit the wall next to her, where it got stuck. The Elite grabbed the weapon with both hands and tried to pull it out, but to no avail.

Eve saw her chance. She swung her shotgun at the Elite's leg, hitting it around the side of the knee. The Elite roared and fell to the floor. Eve then swung the shot gun over her shoulders and hit the Elite in the head, silencing it screams. That finished it off.

Eve dropped her shotgun onto the floor and stood up. She walked towards the other end of the control room. When she reached it, she saw a holographic image of the view outside on the holographic screen. The scarab must have been on autopilot because in the image, which was most likely from the front of the scarab, Eve could now see the roofs of several small buildings and the water of the bay. She could also see the island the sky elevator was on. Several pelicans flew past the scarab. They were probably the reason why the machine shook just a few moments earlier. However, Eve noticed something else as well. The scarab was no longer moving. Probably because the buildings in front of it were too tall for the legs to climb over or there was another canal or a few hundred feet ahead between the scarab and the buildings. Either way, at least this thing was not going anywhere.

Eve scanned the control room to try and find a way to disable or destroy the scarab. All these controls and switches made it hard to find the right one she and Auto were looking for. But there had to be a way. If they left the scarab, the Covenant would gain control of it again and use it to cause even more havoc in the city.

"Wait!" Auto suddenly exclaimed. "I'm picking up a large energy source coming from… hang one that can't be right,"

"What is it?" Eve asked him.

"According to this energy reading, the energy source is coming from the other side of the wall in front of us," Auto answered. "But how can that be right? It's just a wall with a holographic screen."

"It might not be," Eve replied.

Before Auto could reply, Eve walked towards the holographic screen and placed her hand in it. The holographic screen faded away and a horizontal rectangular shaped door opened up on the wall. A control panel moved out of the hole. On it was a set of controls and switches. Eve did not know which one to press. They all did something, but what?

Finally, Eve closed her eyes and hit a large dark blue button.

A whirring sound filled the control room. Eve opened her eyes just in time to see the control panel move back into the wall. The rectangular door closed. Nothing happened afterwards.

"Is that it?" Eve asked.

She got her answer when a holographic control pad appeared on the wall a few feet above where the control panel had just been. The wall then, suddenly, split in two and opened up a doorway about eight feet high and four feet wide. On the other side of the doorway was a dark tunnel, or that is what Eve could make out. A green light coming from a gap under the floor in the 'tunnel' then caught her attention. Eve crouched down and looked underneath the floor. A large light green energy ball was being held between flat cylindrical panels.

"This is where the energy source is coming from," Auto said.

"This must how the scarab's main canon works," Eve said. "Wait… if we can somehow override It's energy, it might cause the laser to explode as It's firing from inside the scarab. It'll destroy it!"

"Good thinking," Auto replied. "Use that control pad to get the wall back together and get the control panel back out. I'll scan it and see if there's anything there for the canon's power."

Eve nodded and climbed out of the 'tunnel' back into the control room. She walked towards the control pad and pressed a small button it. The wall moved back together and the control pad disappeared. Just as the wall connected back together, the rectangular shaped door opened up and the control panel came out of the wall again. Eve walked up to the control panel to allow Auto to scan it. She was glad they had found a way to destroy the scarab. Now all they had to do was override It's cannon's power, activate the cannon and then run for it. The laser would surely explode when it fired, taking the scarab with it. Well, hopefully not all of the scarab.

"Scanning," Auto said. "Alright, It's the dark blue switch near the top of the control panel. Pull that and we should be able to increase the power for the canon,"

Eve nodded and grabbed the switch.

Suddenly, her head smacked against the control panel. Eve screamed in pain and fell to the floor. She placed her hand over the spot where she hit her head. A trickle of blood seeped out between her fingers. Then, Eve noticed something standing over her. She looked up and gasped. It was the ultra-Elite she thought she killed moments earlier. And what was worse, it had managed to get It's energy sword out of the wall and was now holding the deadly weapon in It's hand.

The Elite raised the sword and brought it down towards Eve. Eve yelped and rolled over. The sword hit the floor but, unfortunately, did not get stuck. The Elite raised the sword over It's head and went to bring it down on Eve to finish her off for good.

However, before the Elite could do so, Eve grabbed the Elite's legs and pulled forward with all her might. The Elite fell backwards and smacked It's head on the floor, dropping It's energy sword on the floor next to it. A trickle of purple blood came out of the side of the head and rolled down It's face. Eve went to grab It's sword to kill the creature but the Elite kicked her to the floor with It's foot. It then grabbed It's energy sword, stood up and grabbed Eve's neck. The alien lifted her about a foot off of the floor. Eve struggled to breath. She was also scared that the Elite might crush her neck, which would instantly kill her. Her vision was fading. It looked like she was a goner.

In one last ditch effort, Eve threw a kick at the Elite, hitting it in the stomach. The Elite roared in pain and staggered backwards in front of the control panel. Eve then grabbed the creature and threw a punch at the side of It's head. The force threw the Elite against the barricade, knocking it out. Eve then grabbed It's energy sword and thrust it into the Elite's stomach. The creature's breathing carried on for a few more second, though each got weaker, before it finally stopped. The Elite was finally dead.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. The wound on her head had stopped bleeding, but some of the blood had gone down the side of her face. Eve wiped away the blood with her hand as she turned to face the control panel. She pulled the switch Auto had pointed out to her. A holographic image of the green energy ball appeared above the control panel. Next to it, a holographic vertical bar appeared. Inside the bar, near the bottom, was a line that had a green colour underneath it. This was most likely the power for the energy ball.

"Okay… what do we do now?" Eve asked Auto.

"I'm not sure," Auto answered. "There's no switch or button for it on the control panel, I've just scanned it again."

"Maybe this would work," Eve suggested.

She rested her hand on the level in the holographic bar and moved it up. Sure enough, the level rose with her hand. However, the colour changed of the level changed the higher it went. When it was about half-way up the bar, the level turned an orange colour. When it was right at the top, where Eve wanted it to be, the level was a dark red colour. Eve moved her hand off the holographic screen.

"Alright, now the firing switch is in the middle of the control panel," Auto said. "Pull that and we can blow this thing to hell,"

Eve nodded and pulled a large dark blue/purple coloured switch in the middle of the control panel.

At once, a loud charging sound filled the room, causing it to even shake slightly. even though the doorway was closed because of the wall, Eve could clearly see a green light coming out from the other side of it. It was preparing to fire.

"Alright, let's get out of here before that thing blows," Auto said.

Eve was already running before he had finished talking. She ran down the control room, up the slope path and onto the roof of the scarab's main surface. She was right about the scarab being on autopilot as it was now at the end of the canal with the sea and the sky elevator in view ahead of the vehicle. However, this was not the time for sightseeing. Eve and Auto did not have long before the main canon fired. Eve ran to the other end of the scarab and stopped there.

She waited…

And waited…

And waited…

"What's happened?" Eve asked in a panicked tone. "Has something gone wro-"

BOOM! A light green explosion blew erupted out of the front of the scarab like a super eruption, lighting up the entire area of the city the scarab was in. The explosion blew the front of the scarab into trillions of tiny pieces. Eve was almost thrown off the back of the scarab if she had not grabbed onto one of the walls at the edge of the archway.

Suddenly, more explosions blew out from the sides of the scarab's main section, followed by the legs. The scarab began to sway from left to right. It's titanic form crashed into the buildings around it as the vehicle struggled to stay standing up.

Finally, the massive vehicle fell forward into the canal, throwing up an enormous cloud of dust. The remains of the cannon on the front were crushed into dust. The archway collapsed and fell over the side of the scarab into the water. The scarab then turned over onto It's right side and lay there.

Sergeant Banks, Perez and the other two marines went wide-eyed at the sight below them as the dust cloud disappeared. It was unbelievable. They knew no one would survive a crash like that. They had witnessed it enough in other parts of the colonized zones earlier on in the war.

Then, Banks' eyes rested on something that climbed up from the side of the scarab onto the top. The thing had a white coloured uniform on. A closer look revealed it was…

"Eve!" Banks shouted.

A cheer broke out among the marines.

"Nice take down, Eve!" Perez shouted.

"Nobody messes with our super soldier!" one of the marines added, also shouting.

Eve smiled as she looked down at the wreckage of the once mighty scarab. It was gone, and with it, the Covenant's chance of gaining a foothold on Earth.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. Eve looked up and saw a pelican hovering down towards the wreckage of the scarab. The front of it was about ten feet in front of her so she could see who was in the cog pit. When the pelican was hovering just a few feet above the scarab's wreckage, Eve saw that John was in the cog pit of the craft. He was standing behind the seats of two pilots.

"Good work, Eve," John said, though his voice came through her ear radio.

"Sir, the carrier's retreating!" one of the pilot's said, pointing out through the cog pit window.

Eve looked to where he was pointing. On the roof of a building, about a hundred feet away, was a large purple, cylindrical shaped gravity lift. Eve gazed up at the massive assault carrier. It was well over a mile long and at least a mile up in the sky.

The purple gravity lift began to fade away. When it had fully disappeared, the enormous carrier began to move towards the sky elevator.

_"That's right you mothers!"_ John shouted at the fleeing carrier _"You better run!"_

_"Not if we can help it, sergeant,"_ came Mary's voice. _"Extract Eve and return to the Amber Clad."_

_"Roger that,"_ John replied.

**Amber Clad bridge**

The Amber Clad's bridge, located at the front of the ship, was a large square shaped room with control panels for radar, weapons, engine and power control and communications lined around the wall. On the back wall was door that led out of the bridge into a corridor. On the front wall of the bridge was a large window that gave a clear view of the landscape in front of the ship. In the middle of the bridge was the captain's seat. Mary was sat in it. Scattered around the bridge were other workers.

The Amber Clad was about a thousand feet from the sky elevator. Mary looked out through the bridge's window, watching the Covenant assault carrier as it came into view in the bridge's window. Mary prayed for the pelican to hurry up and board the ship so they could follow the assault carrier.

Just then, Hood appeared on a holographic screen that came up from the armrest of Mary's seat. He was standing on the highest platform on the Cairo's bridge, since Mary could see workers, control panels and the platform below that led onto the floor.

"Status?" Hood asked Mary.

"Sir, the Prophet is bugging out." Mary said. "Request permission to engage!"

"Negative, commander," Hood replied. "I'll vector two heavies for star side intercept,"

"Commander, look!" one of the workers on the bridge exclaimed, pointing out at the Covenant assault carrier.

Mary, along with everyone else in the ship's bridge, looked out and gasped. The assault carrier was now just several hundred feet from the sky elevator. However, what shocked them was that white circle appeared in front of the ship's bow.

"It's a slip-space rupture!" one of the workers exclaimed. "The ship's going to jump inside the city!"

Mary gasped and clasped a hand over her mouth. A Covenant ship slip-space jumping inside the city? That had never happened before! And it was certainly not a good thing!

"There's no time, sir!" Mary said to Hood.

Hood sighed. He knew that they could not risk losing the prophet, but he did not want the commander being sent after that carrier on her own. What if it was to get into a battle with the ship? The Amber Clad would stand no chance of winning. Hood sighed once again. He had no choice but to do the hardest thing.

"Green light! Green light to engage!" he announced. "You stay safe, commander," he added, pointing at Mary, who replied with a salute as the holographic screen disappeared.

"Commander, Johnson's pelican's just landed in the hanger with Eve," one of the nearby workers said.

"Alright, punch it! Get us close!" Mary ordered.

The ship shook slightly as it flew full speed towards the Covenant assault carrier. The carrier's bow was now half-way inside the slip space portal.

"Commander," one of the workers protested. "Without a destination solution…"

"We are not losing that ship!" Mary said sternly, cutting the worker off mid-sentence.

The Amber Clad was now only a hundred feet from the assault carrier. Suddenly, the ship began to shake wildly. Some of the workers did or almost fell out of their seats. Mary grabbed hold of the armrest of her seat so she would not fall out of it.

"Hang on, everyone!" she managed to shout.

The engines of the assault carrier disappeared as they entered the slip space portal. The Amber Clad did not even need to fly after the carrier as it was pulled in as if an invisible hand had reached out from the portal and grabbed the UNSC ship. The Amber Clad disappeared inside the portal. The portal then shrunk and disappeared into thin air. Anyone watching this wondered if it was over.

Suddenly….

_**BOOM!**_ A white ball appeared out of mid-air. The sound of an nuclear device going off erupted from the ball, causing the surrounding city to shake wildly. Windows smashed, vehicles were flipped over, some of them even tanks, and the sky elevator swayed slightly. That, however, was not the worst of it.

The white ball began to expand outwards across the city. Within seconds, the white ball engulfed the sky elevator and the island it was on. Just a mere second after that, the island New Mombassa city was on was hit by the white ball. Very quickly afterwards, Old Mombassa was hit.

It looked like no one was going to survive something like that.


	11. The Arbiter

**Meanwhile, at High Charity**

**(Note: This chapter takes place around the time Eve is heading towards New Mombassa)**

"Ugh… Where am I?"

Vadamee's vision was slowly kicking back into him. He was being carried down a long purple corridor. Tartarus was walking in front of him. Vadamee managed to lift his head high enough both ways to see two Brutes carrying the upper part of this body down the corridor. His feet were dragging along the floor behind them.

"Be quiet, you heretic!"

Vadamee gasped for breath as one of the Brutes hit him in the chest. Tartarus let out a low chuckle, which Vadamee could hear but was too weak to growl.

He could not fully remember what happened to him when Tartarus took the spire in his hands. All he could remember was a horrible burning pain on his chest, him screaming and then… well nothing. He must have passed out or been knocked out either by Tartarus or one of the Brutes.

On and on, the Brutes followed Tartarus down the corridor. Cells began to appear on the walls. Inside some of them were prisoner Covenant. Being in Covenant prison cells was never a good thing. You were barely fed, had nothing to sleep on except the floor and sometimes they would execute prisoners.

As the four passed a cell with a Jackal inside it, the creature immediately ran up to the bars and began hissing loudly. It's mouth drawled at the sight of Vadamee. Fresh meat. It was obvious the Jackal had not been fed for some time and it was dying to get even a mouthful of Vadamee's flesh.

One of the Brutes grunted loudly.

"How much further must we heft this baggage?" he growled. "Any cell will do?"

"Why don't we just toss in here with this lot?" the second Brute suggested, indicating his head at a cell that was full of three prisoner Jackals.

The three Jackals, like their comrade just moments earlier, began to drawl madly at the sight of Vadamee. They had also not been fed for a while and began to lick their lips hungrily as the Brutes carried Vadamee past them. One of them even ran up to the bars and tried to grab Vadamee, only the Brute holding him got in the way.

"They could use the meat," the Brute said.

"Them!" the other Brute exclaimed angrily. "What about us? My belly aches, and his flesh is seared. Just the way I like it!"

"Quiet!" Tartarus barked, silencing the two Brutes. "You two whimper like Grunts fresh off the teat. He's not meant for the jails."

Tartarus stopped in front of a large door. He typed in a code on a control pad on the wall. The door opened.

"The Hierarchs have something special in mind for him," Tartarus said, a grin spreading across his face.

The other two Brutes chuckled slightly. They hoped it was something painful and unimaginably horrible. If it was, they were going to enjoy it.

The four came out onto a small platform with a large circle a few feet from the edge. Far out below them was a large heart/sphere shaped structure that seemed to hover in the middle of a massive grey fog.

The Brutes followed Tartarus as they carried Vadamee over the hole. The four descended down through the hole into the fog. After a few minutes, the four could see a large pathway, about two hundred feet below them, appear out of the fog. It led straight to the heart/sphere structure.

The four landed on the pathway and walked down it towards the building. As they came closer to a large diamond shaped door, on the wall of the structure about one hundred and fifty feet in front of them, the four came across several Elites lined along both sides to the door about five feet from each. They were dressed in a magenta coloured armour with gold crowns on their heads. In one of their hands was a long stave with two sharp points at the top of it. These were Honour Guard Elites, tasked with defending the Prophets to the death. In a way, this felt like an alien's version of Vatican City in Rome.

The large diamond shaped door opened as Tartarus and the Brutes approached it. Inside was a large circular shaped room with a silver pathway leading to a large hole in the floor with a light somewhere down or near the bottom of it. Hovering about six feet above the hole was a large object that looked like one of the prophets' chairs, only there was a large ball shaped object in where the actual seat was. Along the walls going up to the ceiling were purple egg shaped doors with a red light on them.

Tartarus led his Brutes inside the building towards the side of the hole. Waiting next to the hole was Truth and Mercy. Tartarus and the Brutes bowed when they were ten feet from the two Prophets.

"Noble Prophets of Truth and Mercy," Tartarus said. "I have brought the incompetent,"

"Thank you, Tartarus," Truth said. "You may leave,"

What! Tartarus looked up at the two prophets, shocked and completely confused.

"B… but…" he stammered. "I… I thought…"

"And take your Brutes with you," Truth added, cutting off Tartarus.

Tartarus hesitated for a second, as if he was frozen in place. He then bowed and turned his head towards his two Brutes.

"Release the prisoner," he ordered.

The two Brutes nodded and released their grip on Vadamee. The Elite fell to the floor. The wound on his chest stung madly as if someone had thrown acid over him. Tartarus glared at Vadamee as he passed him on his way to the door. The Brutes followed.

The Brutes left the room, leaving Truth and Mercy alone with Vadamee. The Elite found the strength to lift himself onto his knees and touched the charcoal coloured mark on his chest. It hurt like hell. Vadamee moved his hand away.

"The council decided to have you hung by your entrails and your corpse paraded through the city," Truth said to Vadamee. "But, ultimately, the terms of your execution are up to me,"

"What is the point?" Vadamee replied, lowering his head so he did not look at the prophet's gaze. "I am already dead,"

"Indeed," Truth said. "Do you know where we are?" he asked the Elite.

Vadamee scanned the room around him. It took him a few seconds to recognize where they were.

"The Mausoleum of the Arbiter," he answered.

"Quite so," Truth replied. "Here rests the vanguard of the Great Journey. Every Arbiter from first to last. Each one created and consumed in times of extraordinary crisis,"

"The Taming of the Hunters, the Grunt Rebellion," Mercy said, taking over the conversation. "Were it not for the Arbiters, the Covenant would have broken long ago!"

"So why am I here?" Vadamee asked the Prophets. "Even on my knees, I do not belong in their presence."

"Halo's destruction was your error," Truth replied. "And you rightly bear the blame. But the council was… overzealous. We know you are no heretic."

Truth pressed a small button on the armrest of his hover chair. A seven inch high hologram of an Elite appeared over the armrest. This Elite had bright red armour on that looked like robot parts. It had a large device on It's back, most probably for holding weapons.

"This creature is the true face of heresy," Truth continued. "One who would subvert our faith and incite rebellion against the high council,"

Truth pressed another button on his chair's armrest. The hologram of the Elite came to life.

_"Our Prophets are false! Open your eyes, my brothers! They would use the faith of our forefathers to bring ruin to us all! The Great Journey is a-"_

Truth pressed another button on his chair's armrest. The hologram abruptly stopped and disappeared.

"This heretic, formerly known as Sesa 'Refumee, must be silenced, along with all those who follow him," Truth said.

"Their slander offends all who walk the Path!" Mercy added.

Vadamee let out a weak sigh.

"What use am I?" Vadamee asked the prophets. "I can no longer command ships, lead troops into battle-"

"Not as you are, no," Truth said, cutting Vadamee off. "But become the Arbiter and you shall be loose against this heresy without blessing,"

The front of the object hovering over the hole opened up. A white light shined out of the object's interior. Vadamee managed to lift himself onto his feet and walk towards the object. When he was in front of the opening, he saw a suit of ancient armour floating in mid-air inside the object. The armour was a silver colour and had a helmet, two chest side pieces, armour for the arms, stomach, back and legs.

"What of the council?" Vadamee asked, turning his head to face the prophets.

"The tasks you must undertake as the Arbiter are perilous, suicidal even." Mercy replied. "You will die, as each Arbiter has before you. The council will have their corpse."

Vadamee took in what Mercy had just told him. The prophet was right. The Arbiter was for Elites who were to take on suicidal tasks or missions in order to gain great honour in death. Although Vadamee did not wish to gain great honour through death, he was determined to be let loose from this heresy and become the great leader he once was.

Vadamee took the helmet piece within his hands and placed it on his head. The helmet piece now had a long sharp end that went down the front of the face between the mandibles. As soon as he put it on, he felt as if the mark had suddenly been removed from him and he was back to his supreme commander status.

Vadamee turned to face the prophets.

"What would you have your Arbiter do?"

**One hour later**

High Charity. The Covenant home world still hung in It's place alongside the ruins of Halo. All around it, the Covenant surrounded the Covenant's home world as if they were kind of eternal shield.

Flying away from the fleet were three small shapes. Phantoms. The three craft flew underneath a large section of what used to the top of Halo towards a large blue planet.

It was known as Threshold. The planet was an enormous gas giant that had at least one known Forerunner structure which was a gas mine. It mainly believed to have been constructed to harvest the hydrogen in the planet's atmosphere. Why is unknown.

The Covenant were heading to Threshold because they knew that Sesa 'Refumee and his heretic army had fled there a Covenant ground force attacked and destroyed a heretic base on Basis, Threshold's moon. After that attack, a Covenant seraph fighter group pursued the heretics into Threshold's atmosphere, where they destroyed. So if the heretics were still on Threshold, which they were almost completely certain about, then they would have fled to the gas mine.

**Inside the phantom**

Inside the leading phantom was Vadamee (now the Arbiter), two group of special ops Elites and a group of special ops Grunts. The main room of the craft was about twenty feet long and ten feet wide. There was one automatic door on the front wall and a large circular hole on the floor which would drop troops out of the craft. Along both walls were the two groups of Elites standing single file, about four to each group. Down the middle were about four Grunts also standing single file. There was about a three foot gap between each group, which an Elite with silver armour was walking down.

"When we joined the Covenant, we took an oath!" the silver Elite announced.

"According to our station, all without exception!" the special ops Elites chanted.

"On the blood of our fathers! On the blood of our sons, we swore to uphold the Covenant!" the silver Elite announced again.

"Even to our dying breath!" The special ops Elites said.

"Those who break this oath are heretics!" the silver Elite proclaimed as he halted near the back of the three lines of troops. "They are worthy of neither pity, nor mercy! Even now they use their lords' creations to broadcast their lies."

"We shall grind them into dust!" the special ops Elites growled in unison.

"And we will continue our march to glorious salvation!" the silver Elite exclaimed.

The three phantoms flew into the first layers of Threshold's atmosphere, quickly disappearing into it.

Inside the leading phantom, the silver Elite walked down towards the end of the line of Elites next to the right wall of the room. The Arbiter was standing at the back of the line. The silver Elite walked up to him.

"This armour suits you," he said in an impressed manor. "But it cannot hide that mark,"

"Nothing ever will," the Arbiter replied.

The silver Elite let out a humph.

"You are the Arbiter, the will of the Prophets," he said. "But these are my Elites. Their lives matter to me. Yours does not,"

"That makes two of us," the Arbiter replied.

The silver Elite let out a respectful 'Hmm' before turning to walk down towards the other end of the room. As he did, Arbiter caught sight of the torn mandibles on the left side of the Elite's mouth.

This Elite was known as Rtas Vadumee. He was also a supreme Elite fleet commander, like Vadamee had once been. They had also once been great friends, though a small rivalry had grown between them when Vadamee was given the task of defending Halo instead of Vadumee. However, the news of Vadamee's heretic trial exploded throughout the Covenant like a bombshell. The two were still friends, but only very distant.

The Arbiter remembered about how Vadumee had lost his left mandibles. He had been engaged in a battle with a member of the now destroyed UNSC E.R organization about a month before the destruction of Reach. The female he was fighting had torn off his mandibles with his own energy sword. Vadumee enjoyed killing her afterwards.

As the three phantoms descended further in Threshold's atmosphere, the clouds began to turn an orange/brown colour. After a few seconds, they emerged from them into a clear area.

Far out below them was a long and wide bridge-like structure that stretched on for miles and miles. Probably even continuing far from anyone's gaze. This, however, was not the gas mine the Covenant were after. Below the bridge was a long and thick black cable that led down to a strange shaped structure

The structure had a main cylindrical shaped centre section with four leg/claw-like sections coming off the sides that bent down before going inwards. Several large platform-like surfaces went around the cylindrical centre, starting from each leg and connecting to each other. Coming down from the cylindrical centre and the platforms were several stone cable-like pillars coming down from the platforms and the cylindrical centre. They formed several more platform-like surfaces, though they were thinner and formed a large rectangular block-like section with three large rectangular pillars coming down from the block. There was a gas mine. The cable was connected to some square shaped section of the structure with a triangle shaped roof near the top of the structure. Another stone cable came out of the bottom of the section and went down to the top of the cylindrical main section.

As the phantoms approached the gas mine, a large shape was visible moving in the clouds far below the gas mine. A closer look from the pilots in the Phantoms' cog pits saw it was a green cloud spinning towards the gas mine. Lightning was visible inside the green clouds. It was a storm.

_"Leader; there is no doubt. The storm will strike the facility!" _one of the pilots said through the ship's built in voice communicator.

"We'll be long gone before it arrives," Vadumee replied.

The phantoms descended towards one of the tops of the gas mine's legs. When they were above the leg's surface, they hovered above it. The circular holes on the bottom of the phantoms opened up. A squad of three Grunts and an Elite dropped down from the first phantom onto the hard surface of the mine's leg. Out of the second phantom came another Elite and the Arbiter.

"Prepare for combat, warriors!" Vadumee announced through the phantoms' built in communicator as the phantoms flew up into the sky.

The Arbiter activated an energy sword and followed the Grunts and two Elites as they ran over to a small slope path that led down into the leg's floor. The squad ran down the slope to a platform floor at the bottom. When the Covenant squad reached the platform floor, they found a large door on the wall to their left. The other side of the platform was an edge that gave a view of the rest of the station.

The Covenant squad ran up to the door. It had a red light above it, indicating it was locked. One of the Grunts lumbered up to the door and took out some kind of small silver ball shaped device. The Grunt attached the device onto the door and stepped back a few paces. A small blue light shot up from the device and hit the red light. The red light immediately changed from red to blue. The door opened. The squad ran through the open doorway into a large square shaped room with some kind of wide pillar in the middle of it going up from the floor to the ceiling.

"The heretics have not engaged us yet," one of the special ops Elites said.

"We came at the right time," Vadumee's voice said. The squad could hear him through some kind of communication built into their armour so they could talk to their commanders instead of having to use a radio, like their human enemies. "The storm has masked our approach. And it should also have their local Battle-net in disarray. We have the element of surprise…for now at least,"

The door leading outside closed and locked, sealing the squad inside. There was another door on the other side of the room, but it was also locked. Another Grunt walked towards the door with another of the silver ball shaped devices in his hand. However, just as he reached the door, hisses of steam came out of the walls. A blue light rose up the locked door, in front of the Covenant squad, towards the top.

"Engage active camouflage," one of the Elites ordered. "Reveal yourselves after the Arbiter had joined battle with the enemy,"

The Arbiter looked at the other members of his squad. They began to fade away into the surroundings until they had fully disappeared. Luckily, the Arbiter could see their outlines. The Heretics were going to fall with this advantage they had over them.

_"You may wish to do the same, Arbiter,"_ Vadumee said. _"But take heed. Your armour system is not as… new as ours. Your camouflage will not last forever."_

As soon as Vadumee finished speaking, the locked door's light turned blue. It opened up revealing a large room with a wall going along the edge of a walkway and two stairs, one going down either side of the wall, to a slope-like floor. Along the floor were several barricades going down the slope single file to the edge of the slope floor. Between the lines of barricades were moving treadmills that had boxes on them. The boxes moved towards the end of the slope and fell over the edge.

The camouflaged Covenant walked through the doorway into the room. The Arbiter activated his camouflage, disappearing into the surroundings and followed the other members of his squad into the room. The Arbiter scanned the room. He could see nothing. Maybe the Heretics were not in this part of the station.

Then, he saw them.

Coming up from the right stairwell was a large bulky figure. An Elite, only this one had armour only on It's chest, stomach and legs. It was a heretic. In It's arms was a long weapon with a purple armour going around a silver middle section. There was a scope on the top with a few green lights along the front silo of the weapon that stuck about a foot out from the main part of the weapon. This weapon was known as the Type-51 Carbine. The UNSC solders called it the Covenant Carbine.

The heretic Elite walked towards the right wall on the walkway. Another heretic Elite, also armed with a carbine, followed. As the two Elites approached the right wall, one of them began to talk.

"Any word on our missing brothers?" one of them asked.

"Still nothing," the other replied. "Given what we have learned, I fear they are lost,"

"Maybe the Oracle will protect us," the first heretic Elite suggested.

"Perhaps," the other heretic replied. "But his Sentinels are too few, and he cannot fight much after what happened to him. It is better if we protect ourselves,"

_The Oracle?_ the Arbiter thought. _One of the keepers of the Sacred Rings. But why is one of them here and, more importantly, why has this Oracle sided with the Heretics?_

Suddenly, the Arbiter's camouflage armour began to wear off. He noticed this when his free arm, the one not holding the energy sword, became visible again. The Arbiter ran over to the Heretic Elites. However, as he approached them, they noticed the floating energy sword. But before they could react…

"AHHH!"

An Elite's scream filled the room. The Arbiter's camouflage instantly turned off as he moved his sword out of the body of one of the heretic Elites. Purple blood dripped from the sword onto the floor. The Elite's body fell onto the floor with a thud. The other heretic Elite swung It's carbine at the Arbiter, who ducked and drove the weapon deep into the heretic Elites' stomach. The Elite let out a weak growl before it fell backwards against the wall and fell to the floor, dead.

"Reveal yourselves!" an Elite's voice shouted from the other end of the walkway.

The Arbiter looked down towards the other end of the walkway to see the three Grunts and two Elites armour deactivate, making them fully visible. The Covenant squad charged down the left stairwell to the slope floor. The Arbiter ran down the right. When the Covenant squad was on the slope floor, a group of four heretic Grunts, armed with needlers, ran out from behind the barricades. The heretic Grunts were like normal Grunts, except they had gold armour on and had two large methane tanks attached to their backs with a methane breather over their faces. The heretic Grunts fired on the Covenant squad, killing one of the Grunts. One of the Elites fired two blasts from his plasma rifle at the heretic Grunts, killing one of them with two hits to the head.

The Arbiter charged towards the heretic Grunts, raising his energy sword. When he was close enough, the Arbiter swung the sword at the nearest heretic Grunt, killing it and sending over the edge of the slope floor. The other heretic Grunts screamed in panic and ran down towards the end of the slope floor. The other Covenant soldiers fired at the fleeing Grunts, killing them.

"Continue on," the Arbiter ordered.

The Arbiter led the squad down the slope path. As they got closer, a large square shaped platform about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide, rose up to the side of the path's edge.

"Where do you think this leads to?" one of the Elites asked the Arbiter.

"I cannot answer that," the Arbiter replied. "We shall have to find out,"

The Arbiter stepped onto the platform. The Elites and Grunts did the same. When the Covenant squad was on the platform, it descended along the wall of the slope pathway that went a long way down into the leg of the gas mine.

"I wouldn't look over the edge if I were you," one of the Elites said to a nearby Grunt.

The Grunt nodded, only to drop his plasma pistol near the side of the platform. As he knelt down to pick it up, his eyes caught the long way down below the platform. The Grunt whimpered slightly. A large hand grabbed the back of his head and lifted him away from the edge of the platform before setting him back down on the floor.

"I did warn you," the special ops Elite said.

"Quiet," the Arbiter hissed. "If there are any more heretics here, then we must be silent and swift if we are to kill them,"

The platform jolted slightly as it stopped next to a large opening in the wall that led into another room. Ahead of them, the pathway went left and right and disappeared behind the walls. The Arbiter led the Covenant squad don the pathway to where it split in two. He looked left and right and saw both paths turn and disappear around the sides of the wall in front of them, which was actually a large rectangular shaped section separated from the rest of the walls.

The Covenant squad split into two groups once again. The Arbiter took one Elite left around the wall whilst the other Elite and Grunts went around the right side of the wall. The pathways went around the rectangular shaped section and joined up again on the other side outside a doorway that led into an elevator. The two groups of Covenant ran down the pathway into the elevator. As soon as the Covenant squad was in, the elevator seemed to activate itself. It descended away from the entrance into a tunnel.

After a few seconds, the elevator suddenly came into a glass tunnel at the back of a large square shaped room with two walkways rising about ten feet from the floor on both sides of the room. They went along the sides and met up, forming one large platform with a small slope that led down to the floor. Along both walls on and under the walkways were doors. In the middle of the room was a seraph fighter. At the other end of the room was a large blast door with a small control pad on the wall next to it. This room was a hanger.

As the elevator neared the bottom of the tunnel, the Covenant inside it saw several heretic soldiers patrolling along the walkway and around the seraph fighter. Several heretic Grunts were sleeping against the walls.

Then, a large robot shaped like a diamond with a blue light at the front of it came down from the ceiling. Two more flew up from the seraph fighter, one carrying a box.

"Sentinels," one of the special ops Elites whispered. "The holy warriors of the Sacred Rings. Why have they sided with these heretics?"

"We will find out soon enough," the Arbiter replied. "Activate your active camouflage."

The Covenant troops obeyed and quickly disappeared into their surroundings. As the elevator stopped, the Arbiter activated his camouflage and joined the Covenant squad as they exited the elevator through another opening opposite the opening that led onto the elevator.

The Arbiter ran towards the right wall. His had only a few seconds before his armour wore off and he was fully visible again. As he approached the right wall, two sleeping heretic Grunts became visible. The Arbiter ran towards the Grunts and swung his sword at them, which deactivated his armour camouflage, killing one of the Grunts. The methane tank on the back of the Grunt exploded as the sword hit the being wearing it. The other heretic Grunt stirred and looked up from It's sleeping position, only to be met with the end of the Arbiter's energy sword. The weapon sliced through the Grunts' chest, killing it.

Just as the Arbiter finished killing the heretic Grunts, a sentinel hovering up towards an opening near the ceiling saw the Arbiter. In an instant, the sentinel fired a laser at the intruder, hitting him in the back. The Arbiter groaned as he got up from the floor. He turned to face the sentinel, only to dive sideways as another laser flew out from the machine and hit the wall. The Arbiter then tossed his energy sword at the sentinel. The weapon hit the machine, causing it to explode and fall to the floor. This, however, caught the attention of the other heretics and sentinels around the hanger.

"THE ARBITER!" one of the heretic Grunts, on the other walkway, screamed. "OUR BROTHERS ARE HERE!"

"Kill him!" one of the heretic Elites yelled as he raised his carbine.

A massive group of heretic Grunts and Elites appeared out of nowhere and aimed their weapons at the Arbiter. The Arbiter was trapped and he had no weapon to defend himself. It became harder to flee anywhere when three sentinels flew out from an opening near the ceiling and aimed their lasers down at him. It looked like he was a goner.

Suddenly, a barrage of blast fire flew at the heretics and sentinels. The other members of the Covenant squad had deactivated their armour and were firing at their enemies. Two heretic Grunts yelled loudly as they were hit and fell to the floor, dead. A heretic Elite tried to return fire at the Covenant squad but plasma fire from the Covenant Elites hit him, causing the alien to fall to the floor, dead. However, a sentinel fired at the Covenant squad. The laser hit one of the Grunts in the head, killing it.

The Arbiter saw his chance and ran into the battle. Lying on the ground was a carbine from a fallen heretic Elite. The Arbiter grabbed it and fired several rounds at a sentinel hovering several metres from the hanger. The rounds easily tore through the armour of the robot. The sentinel fell to the hanger floor and exploded into a pile of burning metal.

"Arbiter," Vadumee's voice suddenly piped up. "We'll drop a few more troops into the hanger. Open the door and we'll provide covering fire as well,"

"It will be done," the Arbiter replied. "Troops!" he shouted to the other Covenant squad members. "Cover me. I will bring us help in this battle!"

"Yes Arbiter!" one of the special ops Elites replied. "All troops, fire on the heretics. Protect the Arbiter."

The Arbiter ran towards the large blast door at the other end of the hanger. Several blasts hit the floor around him. One even narrowly missed hitting him in the head. He ran under the fighter, which gave him a bit of protection for a few seconds before running out from underneath the craft into the hail of blasts that were flying in every direction.

Finally, the Arbiter reached the hanger door. He slammed his fist against the control pad on the wall. A loud whirring sound filled the hanger. The hanger doors opened up and moved into the walls. The Arbiter had succeeded in opening the hanger door, but where was the phantom?

"Hold position. We are making out descent," Vadumee's voice said through the Arbiter's armour.

The Arbiter looked up into the sky. A large shape was descending towards the hanger. When it was closer, the Arbiter saw it was the phantom. The enormous craft stopped about fifteen feet above the floor and hovered into the hanger. The phantom's cannons aimed at the heretics and fired a barrage of blasts at them. The heretics returned fire on the phantom, but their weapons barely did any damage. Within a few seconds, they were quickly torn apart byt the phantom's overwhelming firepower.

When the last of the heretics in the hanger were dead, two special ops Elites dropped out from the circular hole onto the floor.

"Continue on, Arbiter," Vadumee's voice ordered. "The heretic leader must be nearby with this many soldiers around,"

The phantom reversed out of the hanger. When the craft was fully outside, it flew up into the sky, disappearing behind the side of the mine's leg.

"Where are we to go now?" one of the special ops Elites asked as the rest of the squad joined up with the Arbiter.

The Arbiter scanned the room. All the doors were locked and the only way out of the hanger was the elevator. Then, his eyes rested on a door beneath the walkway on the right wall. the light above it was blue. It was unlocked!

"Follow me," the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter ran over to the door; the Covenant squad followed. The door opened as they approached it, revealing a slope path that led down into a corridor, with a bronze coloured floor, walls and ceiling, that led down and then joined into a corridor at the bottom.

"Ready your weapons," the Arbiter said to his squad. "There will be more heretics down here,"

The Arbiter led the squad down the slope path towards the corridor. When they reached it, they turned left, as the pathway to the right led to a locked door, and ran down the corridor. Ahead of them was another locked door, but there was another path leading off left about ten feet from the door. The Covenant squad ran down this path, which was another slope one, to a flat surface with another slope path leading off to the left of it.

The Arbiter suddenly halted the squad.

"Listen," he whispered.

The squad kept quiet like mice. They could just hear the heavy footfalls of something nearby.

"Activate your armour," the Arbiter whispered. "There will be more of them. We will strike them like shadows of the night."

The squad obeyed and, within a few seconds, disappeared into their surroundings. The Arbiter placed his carbine on the floor and activated his armour camouflage, also quickly disappearing into his surroundings as well. He then ran out from behind the wall down the slope towards where a heretic Elite was standing in the doorway. The Arbiter grabbed Its neck with one hand, the other placed over It's mouth, and pulled the alien away from the doorway to the floor. He then twisted his neck at an angle. The heretic Elite hit the floor and lay still.

The Arbiter, whose armour had now deactivated, stood up and crept over to the door. He peeked his head through it and looked right down a long silver corridor with several pillars going up from the floor to the ceiling. At both ends of the corridor were two locked doors, but there was also a large blast door in the middle of the left wall. In front of it were two sleeping heretic Grunts. Another heretic Elite, armed with a carbine, was patrolling in the corridor. At the moment he was walking towards the other end. The Covenant squad did not have long before he turned and saw them.

The Arbiter signalled the rest of the Covenant squad, who had deactivated their armour after believing the danger was over, over to the doorway.

"One heretic Elite is patrolling down the corridor," he explained. "Two of our heretics Grunts are sleeping by a large blast door. Activate your camouflage and we will kill them,"

The squad obeyed and quickly disappeared into the surroundings, though their outlines were more visible because of the bronze coloured walls. The Arbiter then activated his camouflage and ran out into the corridor. He ran towards the heretic Elite just as he was turning to walk towards the other end of the corridor. The Arbiter threw a punch at the Elite in the head, hitting him in the side of the head. The Elite roared in pain and fell to the floor. The Arbiter then wrestled the carbine from the Elite's grip and then whacked him repeatedly over the head. Purple blood began to seep from he wounds all over the creature's head. The Elite took one more breath before it finally succumbed to death.

Suddenly, the Arbiter's armour lit up. The heretic Elite's roar had woken up the two heretic Grunts. They fired a barrage of plasma projectiles from their needlers at the intruder. The Arbiter dived behind a nearby pillar. The projectiles burst as they hit the pillar. The Arbiter blind fired a shot out from behind the pillar at the Grunts, hitting and killing one of them. The other Grunt suddenly fell forward onto the floor. The Arbiter peeked his head out from behind the pillar to see a special ops Elite standing behind the dead body of the Grunt.

"We must be close," one of the special ops Elites said. "Their forces are getting stronger,"

"We must keep searching," the Arbiter replied.

The Arbiter walked up to the large blast door on the wall. It opened as he approached it, revealing a large tunnel that dropped down, about fifty feet, like a laundry chute. The Arbiter showed literally no fear even though there was a fifty foot drop in front of him. He climbed through the doorway. He suddenly dropped down and disappeared from sight. Two of the special ops Elites followed. The Grunts were scared at first, but after a little encouragement from the last special ops Elite, by encouragement I mean he kicked them into the tunnel, they and the Elite followed.

The Arbiter slid down the side of the tunnel as if he were going down a slide. The tunnel then went into a curve until it was straight. Another large blast door opened up, revealing a large square shaped room with two walkways going along both walls of the room. They both met up along the back wall of the room about five feet below the blast door. Near the ends of both walls were two doors with blue lights above them. There was a large window that acted as the front wall of the room. On the other side was a landing platform with two parked banshees on it. On the ceiling were two large openings.

The Arbiter kept his carbine close as he stepped down from the tunnel into the room. Behind him, several thuds were heard as the Elites and Grunts landed at the bottom of the tunnel. As they ambled out, something moved in one of the openings. The Arbiter noticed this and fired a shot up at the opening.

BOOM! Whatever moved exploded. The remains fell out of the hole down to the floor. The Arbiter looked down at the remains and saw they were sentinel parts.

"ATTACK!"

Without warning, the Covenant squad found themselves surrounded by enemies. Four sentinels flew out from the openings and fired down on the squad. Three heretic Elites and five heretic Grunts charged out of the two doors on the walls and two openings in the ceilings. The heretics fired on the Covenant squad, who retaliated with their own gunfire.

The Arbiter fired two shots from his carbine at a heretic Grunt, killing it. The special ops Elites fired at the heretic Elites, killing one of them. However, two sentinels fired their lasers at one of the Covenant Elites, hitting and killing him.

The Arbiter ran along the left walkway towards the heretic Grunts. They spotted him and fired a barrage of blasts and projectiles from their weapons at him. Luckily, the Arbiter was fast enough to avoid them. When he was half-way down the left walkway, he raised his carbine and fired at the heretic Grunts. Two yells echoed throughout the room as two of the heretic Grunts were hit and fell over the side of the walkway onto the floor.

"RUN AWAY!" one of the two remaining heretic Grunts screamed.

The Grunt jumped down onto the floor and ran over to the heretic Elites on the room's right walkway, waving It's arms in the air in terror. One of the Covenant Grunts spotted his comrade fleeing and fired a shot at it, killing the heretic Grunt with a hit to the head.

The Arbiter fired two shots from his carbine at the other heretic Grunt, killing it. He was about to fire at the heretic Elites when a laser from above hit him in the chest, causing his armour to light up. The Arbiter dived off of the walkway to the floor, narrowly missing another laser that hit the walkway floor. The Arbiter looked up and saw a sentinel hovering about twenty feet above the floor. The light on the front of it changed to blue. It was ready to fire another laser! The Arbiter quickly raised his carbine and fired two shots from his weapon at the machine. The sentinel exploded and fell to the floor a pile of burning metal.

As the Arbiter stood up, the last heretic Elite was gunned down. The Arbiter scanned the room and looked through the window at the landing pad. Those two doors most likely led out onto the landing pad, but where was the heretic leader. The presence of the heretics and sentinels was strong enough for it to mean he was close by. Maybe he had fled on a banshee during the fight. The Arbiter looked out through the window at the landing platform. No, both banshees were still there. Either the heretic leader had fled on an unseen third one or this amount of troops were here to make it look like the heretic leader was here or to protect the banshees.

Then, a figure ran out from the right into the middle of the platform. It was a heretic Elite with red armour on. Sesa 'Refumee!

"Heretic boss! You see? You see?" one of the Grunts shouted, pointing through the window at the heretic leader.

Two more heretic Elites ran out from the left side up to Sesa 'Refumme.

"Deal with them, my brothers!" he ordered. His voice could clearly be heard by the Covenant squad. "I will defend the Oracle,"

The Arbiter clenched his fist in anger as Sesa 'Refumee climbed into one of the banshees. The craft flew off of the landing platform into the sky and disappeared.

The two heretic Elite ran towards the left end of the platform. A door opened as they approached it and they ran though into the corridor on the other side.

"Quickly!" the Arbiter exclaimed. "We must catch him before he escapes!"

The Arbiter ran towards the room's left walkway. When he about ten feet from it, he jumped onto the walkway. Just as he landed, the door on the wall in front of him opened up. The two heretic Elites were standing there, both armed with carbines. They raised their weapons to fire, but the Arbiter was too quick for them.

He dived forward, grabbing on of the Elites round the waist and throwing it, and the other heretic Elite, to the floor. The heretic Elite the Arbiter had pinned to the floor grabbed the Arbiter's throat, only to receive a punch to the side of the head. The Arbiter, using all his strength, wrestled the carbine out of the heretic Elite's grip and fired two shots through the creature's shield into It's head, killing it. The Arbiter then fired a shot at the other heretic Elite as it was getting up from being knocked onto the floor. The laser sliced through the creature's head, killing it.

The Arbiter got up and ran right down the corridor towards the door at the end of the corridor on the left wall. The rest of the Covenant squad followed. The door opened as the Arbiter approached it. The Arbiter ran out onto the platform and looked out into the sky. He must have been somewhere down the middle of the front of the mine's leg because in front of him was the main cylindrical shape of the gas mine.

_"Arbiter,"_ Vadumee's voice said. _"The heretics are mobilizing their air forces. You are to get after their leader, but watch your back. I'm sending one of our phantoms to support you. They'll just quickly pick up the troops and we can begin our search."_

The Arbiter nodded and climbed into the other banshee parked on the platform. He closed the hatch and started the fighter. The craft jolted slightly as it flew forward off of the platform. Behind it, the enormous phantom hovered alongside the platform. The side of the craft opened up, revealing the large room behind the cog pit. The Covenant squad, who had ran onto the platform, boarded the phantom. The opening on the side of the craft closed and the ship flew after the Arbiter's banshee.

_"We've done a complete scan of this part of the mine,"_ Vadumee explained. _"There is a weapon's emplacement on either the top surface or the side of this section. We believe the heretic leader has fled there. Let us begin the eradication of the heretic threat,"_

The Arbiter flew his banshee up the side of the leg. The phantom followed close behind. Above the two craft was a platform, about twenty feet long and seven feet wide, that stuck out along the side of the mine's leg. As the Arbiter flew past it, a barrage of blasts hit his banshee. The Arbiter banked right and turned his banshee round until the front of it was facing in the direction of the platform.

Along the surface of the platform were two Covenant shade turrets. However, these were new types. The turret had a small circular base that would lie on the floor. Coming up from the back of the circular base was a small curved pillar that had a seat on top of it. Coming out from the front of the circular base was another curved pillar, but it was slightly longer and was holding four green coloured, arrow shaped pieces of armour at the front of the turret. Sticking out from the middle of the four pieces of armour were three short, curved spires. These new shade turrets were much smaller than the old ones, making them harder to spot. They were also more destructive, especially against infantry.

The turrets, being manned by heretic Grunts, fired a barrage of blasts at the Arbiter's banshee. They hit the craft, causing it to shake slightly. The Arbiter's banshee shot forward and fired a barrage of ion blasts at the turrets. As they were hit, the armour turned red. Then, one of them broke apart in a small explosion, killing the heretic Grunt piloting it. The Arbiter then turned his banshee left slightly and fired a green ion blast at the other turret.

BOOM! The turret exploded, throwing the heretic Grunt and the remains of the turret through the air and down past the platform to the clouds far below, disappearing from view.

_"Good work, Arbiter,"_ the phantom's pilot said. _"But we have just learnt that there are more weapons emplacements scattered on the other leg section of the mine. We'll take them out one by one until we find the heretic leader."_

_"Be cautious,"_ Vadumee added. _"The heretics will most likely have banshees patrolling the skies,"_

The Arbiter's banshee turned round and flew towards the leg left of the main cylindrical section of the mine; the phantom followed. As the two craft got closer to the leg, they could see the small shapes of parked banshees lined along the surface, about three of them.

Suddenly, the Arbiter's banshee shook wildly. About ten feet above it was a banshee under control of a heretic Elite. The phantom increased It's speed to maximum, zooming ahead of the Arbiter's banshee towards the next leg. The Arbiter dived his banshee at full speed. The heretic banshee tore after him. The Arbiter was suicidal because just a few hundred feet in front of him was the surface of the large rectangular block-like section of the station below the cylindrical section.

The distance between the Arbiter's banshee and the rectangular block decreased rapidly. He was now just eighty feet. Now seventy… Sixty five… Sixty…. Inside the banshee, the Arbiter took a deep as if he were ready to die.

Suddenly, when the Arbiter's banshee was thirty feet from the rectangular block, the banshee banked right and shot past the heretic banshee. The tactic caught the heretic driving his banshee by surprise, but before he could do anything…

BOOM! An explosion filled the air as the heretic banshee crashed into the top of the rectangular block. The remains of the banshee broke apart and fell down the side of the rectangular block towards the clouds far below the mine.

The Arbiter flew his banshee back up towards the phantom, which was now above the top of the second leg.

As the Arbiter reached the phantom, large green blasts shot up from the leg's surface and almost hit one of the banshee's engines. Another flew underneath the banshee and hit the side of the phantom. The Arbiter turned his banshee right before flying down towards the surface of the leg. On the holographic screen inside the craft, the Arbiter could see three heretic Grunts, armed with fuel rod launchers, along the leg's surface. A heretic Elite, armed with a carbine, was firing up at the Arbiter's banshee.

_"Fools,"_ Vadumee said. _"They underestimate our firepower,"_

As soon as Vadumee finished speaking, the phantom's cannons fired a barrage of blasts down at the heretic soldiers. One of the blasts hit the fuel rod launchers of one of the Grunts, causing it to explode. The Grunt, along with one of the banshees, was sent flying over the edge of the leg to the clouds far below. The Arbiter fired an ion blast at the other two banshees. The blast blew apart one of the banshees, breaking it in two, and threw the other over the edge of the leg's surface.

When the last two heretics Grunts and heretic Elite were killed, the phantom's pilot's voice came to life again.

_"No sign of the heretic leader here,"_ he said. _"We must keep searching,"_

The phantom flew off in the direction of the third leg; the Arbiter's banshee followed. As they flew past the cylindrical section of the mine, the Arbiter's banshee shook wildly again. Below them was another heretic banshee heading up towards them. The phantom's cannons aimed down at the heretic banshee and fired a barrage at the enemy craft. The heretic banshee's engines and wings were torn clean off they deadly projectiles hit them. The craft slowed to a stop in mid-air before falling towards the many connections to and from the rectangular block below.

The two craft reached the third leg. Like the one the Covenant squad was dropped on, there was a slop-like pathway leading down from the surface to a platform-like floor built into the side of the leg. On both the top surface and the platform were heretic troops. Two heretic Grunts climbed onto two shade turrets. They fired a barrage of blasts up at the phantom and the Arbiter's banshee. The two craft retaliated by returning fire on the turrets. The Arbiter then fired an ion blast from his banshee at the two turrets.

BOOM! The turrets exploded into hundreds of pieces, throwing both of the heretic Grunts' bodies through the air onto the floor of the leg's surface.

Meanwhile, the phantom was hovering a few feet above the platform. It's cannons were firing at heretic three Elites, armed with carbines, hiding behind two large cube shaped objects built onto the platform's floor. So far, it was having trouble as the metal cubes were too strong for the blast to penetrate and the best amount of damage they had inflicted on the heretic Elites was almost disabling one of their shields.

BOOM! A green explosion threw two of the heretic Elites out from behind one of the large cube shaped objects onto the floor. The last heretic Elite panicked and fell over forwards from behind the other large cube shaped object, completely exposing himself. The phantom's forward cannon turned and fired a blast at the heretic Elite, killing it. Who the hell did that?

The Arbiter's banshee hovered up from the left end of the platform. At least that question's been answered.

_"Good work, Arbiter,"_ Vadumee said. _"But the heretic leader is not in this area of the station. We must be getting closer to him."_

_"He cannot run forever,"_ the phantom's pilot added.

The phantom flew in the direction of the leg right of the cylindrical main section; the Arbiter's banshee followed.

When the two craft were half-way to the last leg, a barrage of ion blasts hit the back of the phantom. The Arbiter saw this through the holographic screen in his banshee. He turned the fighter around to see another heretic banshee flying towards them. The Arbiter fired a barrage of ion blasts at the enemy craft. They hit the front, wings and engines. A pillar of smoke began to rise out of the engines. Finally, the heretic banshee could not take any more damage.

BOOM! The banshee exploded into a fireball. The remains fell down to the clouds far below.

That was another enemy down for the count.

The Arbiter turned his banshee and flew back after the phantom, which was now over the last leg and firing down on a shade turret which, along with several banshees, was on the surface of the leg. The heretic Grunt on the shade turret and the two heretic Elites scattered around the leg retaliated by firing up at the phantom.

Just as the Arbiter reached the battle, Vadumee's voice suddenly came to life once again.

_"Arbiter!" _he exclaimed. _"Quickly kill those heretic Elites before they manage to get airborne!"_

The Arbiter looked at the bottom of the holographic screen on the banshee's cog pit control panel. In the bottom left hand corner of the screen, the Arbiter could see the heretic Elites running towards the banshees. It was bad news if they get airborne. The Arbiter could take on one heretic banshee, but two of them would be enough to blast him out of the sky. The Arbiter was not about to let that happen.

The Arbiter dived the banshee at full speed towards the two banshees. It was a crazy idea but firing his ion blasts would do little damage against the banshees and firing an ion blast would take too long to reach the banshees. The only other option was to crash into them. As the banshee shot towards the two parked craft, the heretic Elites, who were just about to board them, looked up and saw the incoming target like a missile. But before they could react…

CRASH! The Arbiter's banshee smashed right into the side of the right banshee, sending it on It's and throwing the heretic Elite through the air and over the side of the leg. The other banshee heretic was on the top. The hatch was torn clean off along with the front part of the cog pit. Both of the banshees had been dealt with, eliminating the threat of overwhelming heretic air power.

With the two banshees destroyed, the phantom's cannons, who had dealt with the heretic Grunt on the shade turret, fired on the heretic Elite. The blasts easily broke through the shield and the creature fell to the leg's floor, dead.

_"That's the last of the weapon's emplacements,"_ Vadumee said. _"But where is that wretched heretic leader?"_

_"We've found him, sir,"_ the phantom's pilot exclaimed all of a sudden. _"We've tracked him to the cylindrical section of the station,"_

_"Good work,"_ Vadumee replied. _"Arbiter, land on the platforms that run around the cylindrical station and clear any hostiles. I'll drop down with some troops."_

The Arbiter nodded and flew his banshee towards the cylindrical section of the station. He would not be able to land on the platforms that ran along the side of the station but there were several walkways which led from some of the stone cable-like pillars to the cylindrical section.

The Arbiter flew towards a walkway that led from one of the pillars to the middle of the cylindrical section. When the craft was just above it, the Arbiter jumped out of the banshee and landed on the walkway. The banshee fell down past the walkway and disappeared from sight.

The Arbiter looked down the walkway at the cylindrical section. On the wall of the cylindrical section ahead of him was a door with a red light above it. Maybe that was where the heretic leader fled to.

The Arbiter, cautiously, walked forward towards the cylindrical section. He did not know if any heretic troops were on the walkways waiting for him. To make the Arbiter more nervous, he had no weapon to defend himself. If he was attacked, he would have to allow himself to be killed since being killed was the main role of the Arbiter and it would give the one great honour in death.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. It was coming from above the walkway. The Arbiter looked up and saw the phantom hover about fifteen feet above the walkway. The circular hole on the bottom of the craft opened. Vadumee hovered down from the craft to the walkway floor, followed by another two special ops Elites and then two Grunts. The phantom then flew away into the clouds. Vadumee nodded at the Arbiter as he walked up to him.

"Area clear?" he asked the Arbiter.

"Yes," the Arbiter replied. "That door down there is locked." he nodded his head towards the locked door. "If I were the heretic leader, that is where I would go,"

Vadumee turned so he was facing the rest of the Covenant squad.

"Warriors, prepare for battle," he ordered. "The Arbiter will lead the attack,"

The squad members took out their weapons. The Grunts took out plasma pistols whilst the Elites took out a plasma rifle. Vadumee took out two plasma rifles and passed one to the Arbiter.

The Arbiter raised his weapon and ran down the walkway towards the door on the cylindrical section wall; the squad followed. When they reached it, one of the Grunts took another small silver ball shaped device and placed it on the door. A blue light shot up from the device onto the red light above the door. The light changed to blue. The door opened to reveal a square shaped room with a small path leading left behind a wall.

The Covenant squad members raised their weapons in case any heretic soldiers were preparing to ambush them. The Grunts lumbered into the room. The two special ops Elites followed. Vadumee then stepped in. The Arbiter turned and aimed his plasma rifle outside as he walked backwards into the room.

Suddenly, the Arbiter hit Vadumee's back. He turned his head to see Vadumee standing on the spot as if he was frozen. He sniffed the air loudly.

"What is it?" the Arbiter asked Vadumee.

"That stench," Vadumee replied.

The Arbiter sniffed the air. The stench he caught was horrible. It smelt like rotting corpses.

"I've smelt it before," Vadumee added before walking onward into the room.

The Arbiter turned and followed the group as they walked down the path that went behind the wall. The stench was really familiar to him as well. He had smelt it before. On Halo, in fact. But what it was, he could not remember.

As the Covenant squad walked into a large rectangular shaped room with a glass floor, pillars along both walls and a door at the other end, the Grunts stopped all of a sudden as if they had seen something frightening. The Elites stopped as well.

"What is it?" Vadumee asked, in an annoyed tone, as he pushed past the two special ops Elites with the Arbiter behind him.

The two saw why the rest of the squad. Going down the middle of the room was a long rectangular glass case that was about ten feet long, two feet wide and three feet high. The squad could see some weird shaped things moving around inside the case. The inside of the case was dimly lit so it was hard to see what they were.

"What are they?" the Arbiter asked.

"I don't know," Vadumee replied. "But I have a feeling I have seen these creatures, if that is what they are, before,"

"Do you think the heretics are creating them as some kind of weapon?" one of the special ops Elites asked.

"If they are, then we must destroy this station as soon as we have killed the heretic leader," Vadumee answered.

The squad walked on towards the door. It opened as they approached it. The squad walked through into another rectangular shaped room with pillars going along both walls and a door at the other end. But this one had a glass floor and acted as the ceiling for a room below. However, it was either covered with a thick layer of dust or the light in the room below was very dimly it because a door, in the exact same position as the one behind the squad but in the room below it, opened up and several figures, that the squad could only just make out to be heretic Elites, ran into the room.

Suddenly, a barrage of carbine blasts erupted in the room below the squad. However, they were not directed up at the squad but at other moving figures who had charged into the room through a door at the other end. The figures jumped down the room at the heretic Elites and began whacking them with their arms. When a blast would hit one of them, the figures would emit a loud growl that cut through the squad like knife through warm butter.

The Arbiter began to grow more suspicious. He had first smelt a rotting corpses stench and now he had heard that loud growl. What he found very suspicious about it was that he hadheard both of them before. Maybe there was more to this station than the heretics being here.

"By the rings!" one of the special ops Elites said, aghast. "What is that?"

One of the Grunts whimpered slightly.

"Quiet!" Vadumee barked, silencing the Grunt.

The Covenant squad watched the heretic Elites and the unknown figures go through the lower room's left doorway and disappear from sight. Within a few seconds, the noise of the figures and the blasts of the carbines faded away.

"It has moved on," Vadumee said. "Let us continue on before it returns."

Vadumee led the squad down the room towards the door at the other end of the room. It opened as they approached it. The Covenant squad ran through the doorway onto a wide glass walkway at the back of a large square shaped room with four pillars, in a wide square shape, in the middle of the room. Several control panels were scattered along the walls and even on the pillars of the room. At the other end was another door that led… well to who or whatever was on the other side.

However, there was something else in this room. Something which sent chills up the backs of the squad members. Dead bodies of heretic Grunts and Elites littered the floor. The blood of these once living beings was thrown across the floor or the walls. They were probably attacked by the same figures the squad saw fighting the heretic Elites in the last room.

Vadumee and the Arbiter jumped down the ten foot fall from the walkway to the glass floor. The Covenant squad members followed. As the squad walked towards the other end of the room, the saw the red light above it. Vadumee growled in frustration.

"These heretics are either trying to seal us in with the creatures or they have disturbed this station's security systems." he growled. "Get that door open! Every minute we waste here gives the heretic leader more time to flee,"

One of the Grunts lumbered forward towards the door. As he approached it, he took out another silver ball shaped device. Suddenly, he stopped and sniffed the air. The stench! It was back! The Grunt whimpered loudly and dropped the device on the floor.

"Me have bad felling about this," he whimpered as he raised his plasma pistol.

"You always have a bad feeling!" one of the Elites growled.

"Silence!" Vadumee half-shouted. "Close your jaws or I will bind them shut!"

"Look!" the other Grunt exclaimed, pointing up at the wall.

The squad looked to where the Grunt was pointing and saw a ball shaped device hovering down from an opening at the top of the wall. It flew out in front of the squad before dropping onto the floor as if it were dead. The Arbiter took a step forward to examine the device.

Suddenly, a figure shot up from the device. It was an Elite with red armour around It's chests, stomach and back. Two large gun-like objects were sticking out of It's back. In It's hands were two plasma rifles. It was Sesa 'Refumee!

"See! Heretic!" one of the Grunts shouted.

The Grunts, along with one of the special ops Elites, fired at Sesa 'Refumee. However, when they fired at him blood was not spilled. Instead, blue lines fazed up and down his body as if he were a hologram going haywire. Wait! Maybe he was a hologram.

"Hold your fire!" Vadumee ordered, bringing an abrupt halt to the hail of blasts.

The image of Sesa 'Refumee laughed.

"I wonder who the Prophets would send to silence me," he said. He turned his head to look at the Arbiter. "An Arbiter… I'm flattered."

"He's using a holo-drone," Vadumee explained. "He must be close. Why don't you come out so we can kill you?"

Sesa laughed at Vadumee's words.

"Get in line!" he replied.

Sesa then looked up behind the squad. He let out another evil laugh.

"Looks like you have visitors." he said. "Have fun,"

The holo-drone figure of Sesa 'Refumee suddenly disappeared. The Arbiter shot round, only to see the small tentacles and jaws of a creature close over his face. The Arbiter yelled and pulled the creature off of his face and threw it on the floor. His eyes went wide at when he saw the creature.

It had a skull shaped body, massive flabby parts sticking out of the back of the creature's heads like hats and many small tentacles sticking out of the bottom of It's body. It was an infection form. And it belonged to the one enemy the Covenant truly feared.

The Flood.

The infection form went to jump up at the Arbiter again, but he fired a shot from his plasma rilfe. The blast hit the infection form and caused it to explode like a balloon.

Suddenly, one of the Grunts screamed. The Arbiter shot round to see more infection forms drop down from the ceiling onto the floor where they immediately began to jump and attach themselves to the nearest Covenant soldier. Two infection forms jumped onto a nearby Grunt. The creature screamed and tried to pull them off him but the infection forms were too great and he fell to the floor, dead.

The rest of the Covenant squad fired on the infection forms, causing them to explode like balloons. But not matter how many they killed more of them just seemed to come from nowhere.

Then, one of the infection forms headed straight for the body of a heretic Elites. Vadumee spotted the creature and fired on it. The blasts missed and hit the floor. The infection form jumped onto the heretic Elite's carcass and began to eat away at it. Vadumee went to fire another blast but the infection form suddenly disappeared inside the heretic Elite. Not even a second later, the body began to shake wildly as if it were having some kind of fit. Then, large golden brown bulges swelled up all over the creature's body. The heretic Elite then stood up and looked at Vadumee.

The creature looked like a zombie whose body must have been screwed up. Part of the head of the heretic Elite was sticking out of the side of the neck, the golden brown bulges were covering much of the armour that had been spared by the sudden change of the body and several small tentacles were sticking out the back, sides and face of the creature.

"By the rings!" Vadumee said, aghast, as he stepped away from the infected creature. "The Parasite has a new way of expanding their forces,"

The now Flood controlled heretic Elite, known as a combat form, charged towards Vadumee. The Arbiter fired a barrage of sky blue blasts at the creature. The combat form was hit repeatedly until it suddenly broke apart. The remains fell to the floor.

As the last infection form exploded, the light above the door in front of the squad turned blue, opening it up to reveal a smaller square shaped room with dark green walls and two large cube-like objects inside it. At the other end of the next room was the entrance to an opening in the wall with a platform blocking the bottom of the opening.

The Arbiter led the squad through the door into the room. Vadumee followed but stopped at the doorway. The Arbiter noticed this as he turned to make sure everyone was in the room in case the door locked.

"Are you not coming?" he asked Vadumee.

"I need to get back to our ships and let them know of the Parasite's presence," Vadumee answered. "You go on, Arbiter. I'll follow when our reinforcements arrive,"

Just as Vadumee finished speaking, the door closed. The Arbiter watched as the silver armoured Elite disappeared behind the metal entrance. Now the survival of the remaining squad members were in his hands.

The Arbiter turned and walked onto the platform. On the right wall was a control pad. The Arbiter pressed a holographic button on the control pad. The platform jolted slightly before ascending into a long tunnel. As they went further up, the elevator passed several windows on the wall opposite the entrance onto the platform. On the other sides of the glass windows were bodies strewn across the floors of each room. Behind some of the glasses were Flood infection forms feeding on the bodies. There was no doubt that they would soon become one of the many Flood soldiers.

"The parasite is all over this place." one of the special ops Elites whispered. "Not even the heretics deserve a fate like this,"

"Which is why it is best if we put them out of their misery," the Arbiter replied.

The platform began to slow down. It stopped next to another opening opposite the opening the squad used to get onto the elevator. The Arbiter raised his plasma rifle and stepped off the platform into a small pathway with light blue coloured walls and a glass floor which turned left. He walked down the pathway and turned left. The rest of the Covenant squad followed.

The squad found themselves in a long corridor that also had light blue coloured walls and a glass floor, but it also had strange silo shaped objects along the left wall spaced about two feet from each other. Strewn across the floor of the corridor were several dead heretic Grunts. Their light blue blood was thrown across some of the silos and even on their own bodies or the bodies of another heretic Grunt.

"We should have brought weapons to burn these bodies," one of the special ops Elites muttered under his breath. "Every one of them is a new vessel for the Parasite,"

"Which is why we must hurry before we are one of the Parasite's minions," the Arbiter replied.

The Arbiter led the squad down the corridor. As they neared the end, they turned left again into another short pathway that led to a door with a blue light above it. It opened as the squad approached it. The Arbiter led the Covenant soldier through the doorway.

The squad found themselves on the walkway of a large rectangular shaped room. The walkway was about fifteen feet from the floor and ran around the wall of the room. Several pillars were placed along the front of it. Above the entire walkway was a layer of glass which gave the Covenant squad a clear view of the ceiling. On the room's floor, about three quarters of the way down from the left end in front of a door with a red light above it, was a small platform that rose up about three feet. On it was a small, thin purple coloured device with a pink bulge at the end of it and an attachment coming off the bottom of it. A Covenant plasma turret. But why was it here? There were no bodies in sight, nor any blood or even any heretic soldiers or Flood for that matter.

"The Parasite has not infected this room of the station," one of the special ops Elites said.

"But that does not mean they will not try to," the Arbiter replied. "Ready your weapons. We could most likely be in for a hard fight,"

_ROOOOAAAARRRRRR!_

The Arbiter looked above him. Two combat forms ran out from the wall, most likely from an opening, and ran across the glass to the edge. When they reached the edge, they jumped down onto the floor. No sooner than a second passed before the locked door, at the right end of the room opened up, and a squad of three heretic Elites and two heretic Grunts ran out and fired on the combat forms.

"We must get to that door," the Arbiter said. "Flay them all without mercy!"

The squad jumped down from the walkway and charged into the fray. The Arbiter charged at the heretic Grunts, who were on the platform with the plasma turret, and swung his plasma rifle at them. The weapon, which the Arbiter was now using as a club, killed the first heretic Grunt with a blow to the head. The Arbiter then swung his weapon at the other heretic Grunt, killing it by bending It's head at an upward angle.

As the bodies of the two heretic Grunts fell off the platform onto the floor, the Arbiter's shield lit up. One of the heretic Elites, armed with a carbine, had fired at him. The Arbiter dived off the platform and ducked down behind it, narrowly missing another shot from the carbine as it hit the floor.

_ROOOAAAAARRRR!_

The fighting in the room abruptly ceased. The faces of those inside the room looked up at the platforms above the walkway. A massive swarm of Flood combat forms and infection forms came out of openings along the walls above the walkways and fell down onto the floor.

"PARASITE!" one of the heretic Elites yelled.

At once, a barrage of blast fire flew at the wave of Flood. The Arbiter fired a barrage of blasts at the incoming Flood, killing one of the combat forms and causing it to break apart. One of the special ops Elites fired at a swarm of infection forms, hitting one and causing it, along with the other infection forms in the swarm, to explode.

"AHHHH!"

The Arbiter shot round to see a heretic Elite fly to the floor, a cloud of purple blood was thrown over a combat form. A combat form had struck the heretic Elite from behind, killing it on impact. Another combat form jumped through the air and landed a strike with It's arm on another heretic Elite, killing it. Two infection forms then jumped onto the bodies. They began to shake violently and the large golden brown bulges broke through the skin of the creatures. The bodies rose up from the floor, now one of the many minions of the Flood.

The Arbiter stood up and fired a barrage of sky blue blasts at the two new combat forms. One was hit and broke apart as it fell onto the floor. The other charged towards the Arbiter. Luckily, one of the special ops Elites spotted the combat form and fired on it, killing the creature.

Suddenly, the Covenant squad realised they were on their own. The last two heretic Elites were lying dead on the floor, though they would not be for long as two infection forms were heading towards them.

"We're trapped!" the Grunt squeaked. "We're gonna die!"

"Silence!" the Arbiter shouted at the Grunt, silencing him. "Warriors, fight on! We must get break through the parasite and get to the heretic leader!"

The Covenant squad obeyed and fired a barrage at the Flood forces. The two infection forms heading towards the dead heretic Elites were hit by sky blue blasts from the Arbiter's, causing them to explode. Another infection form jumped onto one of the special ops Elites, but the creature's shield caused it to explode. A combat form tried to strike the Grunt, but the Arbiter fired on the creature, killing it.

As the last of the Flood infection form, which was heading straight for one of the bodies of the heretic Elites, the Arbiter scanned the room. The Flood were gone… for the moment at least.

The Grunt ran over to the door and took out another silver ball shaped device. He placed it on the door. A blue light shot up from the device onto the red light above the door, causing it to open. A small square shaped room with a wide pillar in the middle of it going up from the floor to the ceiling and another locked door at the other end of the room. The Grunt lumbered through the doorway into the room. The Elites went to follow when…

_ROOOOAAAARRRR!_

The Arbiter shot round to see another wave of combat forms and infection forms coming out of the openings above the platforms and straight towards them. This time, however, some of combat forms were armed with guns. The Elites ran through the doorway into the room. The Arbiter looked over his shoulder to see the new wave of Flood charging towards them. There were too many of them for the squad to deal with.

Then, luck seemed to be on the squad's side. As the wave of Flood was about ten feet from the room, the door into it closed and locked. The Arbiter breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe, but only for now. He knew that the Flood would either find another way to get to them or they would break through the door, which would not take them very long.

Suddenly, a hissing sound filled the room. The squad saw trails of steam come out of the walls. After a few seconds, they stopped. Just as they did, the locked door at the other end of the room opened up. The squad ran through the open doorway.

At once, the squad were hit with a full blast of wind. They found themselves on a walkway near the top of the cylindrical main section. The heretic leader must have fled up here somewhere, or at least they hoped he did.

A sudden roar near the left turning on the walkway caught their attention. A Flood combat form flew over the side of the walkway and disappeared from sight. Just a second later, two sentinels, who were hovering a few feet from the edge of the walkway, appeared from behind the wall. They spotted the squad and their lasers at them. The Grunt was hit and yelled loudly as it fell onto the floor, dead. The Elites returned fire on the sentinels, hitting them. A pillar of fire erupted from both machines and they fell down below the walkway, disappearing from sight.

"Arbiter!" Vadumee's voice suddenly exclaimed. "The Flood have spread throughout the station! We do not have enough troops to manage such a large infestation! Quickly, find the heretic leader and kill him before he escapes!"

"Spread out," the Arbiter ordered. "We must find the heretic leader,"

The squad broke into two groups. The Arbiter and one of the special ops Elites ran right down the walkway whilst the Grunt and other special ops Elite ran left.

As the Arbiter and the special ops Elite went further right along the walkway, they found it rose up on a slope-like path about twenty feet. The Arbiter and the Elite ran up the slope path onto a flat walkway again. They came to a halt, along with the other two members of the squad, outside a door with a blue light above it.

The door opened to reveal an enormous room with a bronze coloured floor, walls and ceiling. Four large pillars, in a square shape, rose up from the floor to the ceiling. A large circular shaped platform was in the middle of the room. Next to it was a small square shaped control panel with a scanning device on it on a three foot tall cable that rose up from the floor. At the other end of the room was an open doorway.

Suddenly, a laser tore across the floor in front of the squad, narrowly missing the Arbiter's feet. Another flew past the squad and hit the side wall. A large group of sentinels and Flood were scattered around the room fighting. The two lasers came from a sentinel that was struggling to free itself from two infection forms. Sparks flew from the machine. Finally, the machine fell to the floor and exploded into a pile of burning metal. The two infection forms then moved off the pile of metal towards another sentinel that was fighting an unarmed Flood combat form.

"See, Heretic!" the Grunt exclaimed suddenly, pointing ahead of the squad.

The Elites looked towards the other end of the room. Running towards the door at the other end was a heretic Elite with two large gun-like objects sticking out of It's back and had red armour around It's chest, stomach and back. It was Sesa 'Refumee!

"It's the heretic leader!" one of the special ops Elites shouted.

At once, the Arbiter ran full speed towards the heretic leader. He was not going to let him get away so he could cause more trouble among the Covenant! It was time to end his hereacy here and now.

Sesa looked over his shoulder and saw the Arbiter running towards him. His pace quickened. When he was ten feet from the door, he dived through the air and landed in a small room on the other side. Almost immediately afterwards, as if Sesa ordered this to happen, a blue haze appeared over the doorway. The Arbiter skidded to a halt and pounded a fist on the haze. It was some kind of shield. The Arbiter fired a blast from his plasma rifle at the shield. That did nothing either.

The Arbiter growled loudly. Sesa laughed, which the Arbiter could hear, as he stood up. He turned his head to look over his shoulder.

"This will save me from the storm," he said. "But you and your Covenant troops will be consumed!"

Just as Sesa finished speaking, a door behind the haze closed. The Arbiter let out another growl. He had failed in his chance to capture or kill the heretic leader. Now he was going to escape. The Arbiter just wanted through the shield and grab Sesa's neck and be done with this entire mission.

"Arbiter, where is he?" a voice said.

The Arbiter turned to see Vadumee with the Arbiter's squad, who now had two special ops Grunts. In his hand was an energy sword. The Arbiter walked past Vadumee towards the large platform in the middle of the room. Vadumee walked towards the blue haze. He let out a low growl.

"The stinking Flood bait has boxed himself in tight!" he said. "We'll never break through this!"

"Then we shall force him out," the Arbiter replied.

"How?" Vadumee asked, walking up to the Arbiter.

"This station is connected to the structure above by a cable," the Arbiter answered. "I'm going to cut it and that will force the heretic to run. Get everyone back to the ships,"

Vadumee nodded and turned to the squad.

"Warriors, we will return to the landing zone." he announced. "The Arbiter is going to continue on foot, cut this station loose and scare the heretic from his hole,"

The squad ran past the Arbiter towards the door. Vadumee held up his energy sword.

"Take my blade," he said. "I doubt the cable will be able to withstand It's bite,"

The Arbiter took the blade from Vadumee.

"Good luck, Arbiter," he added before running towards the door after the rest of the squad.

The Arbiter walked over to the other side of the platform to the control panel. He rested his hand on the scanning device. An electrical charging sound filled the room. A cylindrical clue haze suddenly rose up out of the side of the platform towards the bottom of a stone square shaped platform near the ceiling. The Arbiter stepped onto the platform. Immediately, as if some invisible hands had grabbed onto him, he was lifted off his feet and up into the air towards the platform above.

As the Arbiter got closer to the platform, a circular shaped hole on the bottom of it opened up. The Arbiter hovered through the hole and landed on the platform as the hole closed. Near the edge of the platform was another control pad on a panel, only this time there was a button on it. The Arbiter pressed the button.

A small circular lift suddenly appeared next to the platform. The Arbiter stepped onto the lift. He jolted slightly as the lift rose up towards a tunnel in the ceiling. Within seconds, the Arbiter was almost completely engulfed in darkness, the only source of light being his energy sword. He did not dare move an inch in fear that he would step off the side of the lift and fall to his death.

Then, the Arbiter was blinded by the sudden appearance of light. He found himself inside the enormous section at the top of the station. The triangle roof was actually four stone cables coming out of the sides of the top of the square and joining together in the middle of the air about sixty feet above the floor. In the four corners of the square room were four large rectangular shaped stone pillars that rose up from the floor of the corners where the wall of the square was connected with the cable. On the front of them were dark silver coloured metal pieces that probably connected to the inside of the pillar.

They must be what's holding the station in place below the cable. the Arbiter thought.

_"All my phantoms are in the air, Arbiter,"_ Vadumee's voice suddenly erupted out of the Arbiter's armour. _"Go ahead, cut the cables,"_

The Arbiter ran towards the pillar in the top left corner of the room. When he reached it, he swung his sword at the pillar's metal piece.

BANG! An explosion filled the room. The pillar was suddenly lifted off of the floor and thrown against the bottom of the cable it was connected to where it stayed as if it was stuck there.

The Arbiter almost fell over as the station listed in the direction of the cable he had just cut.

_"That's one cable,"_ Vadumee said. _"By the prophets, look at the station list," _

The Arbiter regained his footing and ran down towards the pillar at the bottom left corner of the square. When he reached it, he swung his sword at the metal pieces on the front of the pillar. Another explosion echoed throughout the room as the pillar flew up into the air and stuck itself to the bottom of the cable.

It was then the Arbiter began to realise that maybe this was not the best idea to cut the station loose. The station began to tip to It's left side. The Arbiter could only just keep his footing as the station stopped at an angle of at least 30 degrees.

_"By the prophets, the station has almost tipped on It's side!"_ Vadumee exclaimed.

The Arbiter ran up the almost slide-like floor of the room towards the top right corner of the room. When he reached it, he swung his energy sword at the metal on the front of the pillar. Another deafening crash echoed throughout the room as the pillar shot up from the floor and stuck itself to the bottom of the cable above it.

A loud metal grinding sound filled the air. The station now listed in the direction of the top left corner. The only pillar to destroy now was the one in the right bottom corner of the room. The Arbiter ran towards it. All he had to do was cut this cable and then get back to the elevator as quickly as possible before the station was cut loose, otherwise he would be sucked up into the atmosphere and most likely killed.

BOOM! An explosion blow an enormous hole in the room's floor. The Arbiter shot round to see a group of Flood combat forms jump out of the hole. Only one of them was armed, the weapon being a plasma pistol. No sooner than a second passed before a group of sentinels entered the room through the gaps between the cables. A battle quickly broke out among the Flood and the sentinels.

The Arbiter ran on towards the last remaining pillar. He had to get to it quickly before the sentinels, or worse the Flood got to him first. He was almost there. Just a few more metres!

Suddenly, the Arbiter flew forward and landed face down painfully on the floor. His mandibles ached and forehead ached. Then, something began pulling on his legs. The Arbiter looked to see a Flood combat form standing up behind him with It's tentacle hands wrapped round his legs. The Arbiter looked ahead and saw his energy sword lying on the floor a few feet in front of him. He scrambled forward with all the strength he could. But with the combat form using all of It's strength to keep the Arbiter away from his weapon, it was almost impossible.

In one last attempt, the Arbiter leaned back, grabbed one of the combat forms' tentacles and pulled the creature to the ground, releasing the combat form's grip. The Arbiter scrambled to his feet, grabbed his energy sword and swung the weapon at the combat form as it stood up from the ground, cutting it in two. The remains fell to the floor.

The Arbiter turned and ran back towards the last pillar. When he reached it, he swung his weapon at the front of it. Another explosion echoed throughout the room followed by the pillar flying up to the cable above it and sticking to the bottom of it.

Then, as if someone had turned off the sound, the fighting in the room stopped. The reason; a loud whirring and metal grinding noise was coming from above. The Arbiter turned to run back to the elevator. Suddenly….

_**CRASH!**_ The cables were ripped clean off the main cable. The station shook wildly as if it were being thrown about. The Arbiter, the sentinels and the Flood were lifted several feet into the air, some even being sucked out as the station broke away from the main cable and fell into the clouds.

The Arbiter's plan had worked.

_"That did it!"_ Vadumee exclaimed. _"The station is in free-fall!"_

The Arbiter, who was lucky enough not be sucked out of the station, ran towards elevator. As soon as he stepped on it, the elevator descended back into the tunnel, completely engulfing the Arbiter in darkness once again. Like when he was in this tunnel just minutes earlier, the Arbiter was in fear. But this time it was not falling over the side of the platform to his death, it was the long stone cable breaking apart because of the shaking. The seconds flew by but still the elevator had not reached the stone platform in the room where the heretic leader's door was. The Arbiter let out a quiet whimper. Besides the sentinels and the Flood, he was the only one who could stop the heretic leader. This would be the Covenant's only chance. There would never be another opportunity to end the heretic threat again.

Finally, the elevator descended into the bronze coloured room towards It's original position alongside the stone platform. The Arbiter stepped off the elevator and walked into the middle of the platform. The circular hole underneath his feet opened up and the Arbiter descended back below the platform, in the haze elevator, towards the floor. Below him, sentinels and Flood were still fighting each other, oblivious to the fate that awaited the station.

When the Arbiter landed on the floor, he ran towards the door the heretic leader had fled behind. Sure enough the Arbiter's plan had worked. The shield was down. Now the Arbiter could pursue the heretic leader and end this heretic threat.

The door opened as the Arbiter approached it, revealing a small room with two large cube shaped objects and the walls, floor and ceiling a dark green colour. On the wall opposite the Arbiter was an unlocked door. However, light blue and purple was also splattered around the room as well. On the floor were the corpses of several heretic Elites and Grunts. Either the station suddenly detaching from the cable killed them or the Flood or sentinels must have attacked them and killed them. Well at least they were one less group of enemies for the Arbiter to deal with.

The Arbiter ran over to the door. It opened to reveal a large cylinder shaped chamber with a lime green aura of light shooting up from the bottom to a hole in the ceiling above. Around the edge of the chamber was a walkway. The Arbiter looked left and right. If he went left, the walkway would take him up to another door on the opposite wall about fifty feet him. If he went right, the walkway would take him down to, again, another door, that was also on the opposite wall, about thirty feet below him.

The heretic leader was most likely to have fled through one of these doors. It may have been the top one, but that was in the direction of where most of the Flood were most likely to be. So the only other place to flee was through the bottom door. The Arbiter was about to move when…

BOOM! An explosion above caused a huge chunk of rubble to fall from the ceiling onto the part of the walkway above the Arbiter. The Arbiter looked up to see a group of four sentinels fly down from the hole.

A loud growl from below caught the Arbiter's attention. He looked down to see the bottom door open up. A massive group of armed combat forms charged out of the room onto the walkway. The Arbiter tightened his grip on his energy sword. Looks like he was going to have to fight his way to the heretic leader.

The Arbiter ran right down the walkway towards the bottom door. The combat forms, who were firing up at the sentinels with their weapons, saw him coming. But before they could do anything, their enemy was upon them.

The Arbiter swung his deadly sword at a combat form armed with a plasma rifle, cutting the beast in two. He also threw a punch at another combat form, causing it to go flying over the edge of the walkway. The Arbiter then swung his sword again, cutting through another two combat forms.

When the bodies of the last two combat forms fell to the floor, the Arbiter grabbed one of the plasma rifles that had fallen on the walkway floor and fired several rounds up at the sentinels. One of the machines was hit and fell down past the walkway. A small explosion followed several seconds later.

The Arbiter went to fire at the other sentinels when one of them suddenly fired It's laser. The deadly ray hit the Arbiter's hand. Thankfully, his shield kept him from losing his hand. However, the Arbiter looked on the floor and saw that the part of the energy sword he held was lying on the floor, cut in two. The Arbiter growled and fired up at the remaining three sentinels, shooting them down.

With the sentinels destroyed, the Arbiter continued on down the walkway to the bottom door. It opened as he approached it. The Arbiter ran through the doorway into a small square shaped room that was dimly lit, the only source of light being a doorway that led outside onto another landing platform, on the wall opposite the Arbiter.

Suddenly, something near the edge of the light moved. The Arbiter raised his plasma rifle and kept his finger on the trigger. He did not know whether whatever it was that moved was a Flood, a sentinel or a heretic soldier. Seconds passed. Whatever it was had grown still again. Maybe it was just his imagination. The Arbiter lowered his plasma rifle and went to walk towards the doorway.

Suddenly, a tall figure charged out of the darkness towards the door. The Arbiter was taken completely by surprise and by the time he had raised his plasma rifle to fire at the unknown target, it was already through the doorway on the platform outside. The Arbiter ran to the doorway. As he got closer, he saw that the figure was in fact Sesa 'Refumme. He fired at the heretic leader just as he was getting into a parked banshee. However, the heretic leader quickly took off into the sky and, when he was about fifty feet from the landing zone, turned his banshee round and fired a barrage of ion blasts at the doorway. The Arbiter dived behind the wall, narrowly missing the blasts as they hit the room's floor.

One second… two seconds… three seconds… The Arbiter took a deep breath and poked his head out from behind the wall into the doorway. His eyes scanned the sky. There was no sign of the heretic leader's banshee. It was gone. The Arbiter stepped out from behind the wall onto the platform. A few metres in front of him was another parked banshee. The Arbiter ran over to the banshee and climbed in. The craft jolted slightly as it left the ground and took off into the sky. Luckily, and somehow very strangely, the banshee was still kept within the station as it fell further into the clouds.

Wait a minute? It was then the Arbiter realised that if any craft, unless very fast moving, left the station, the pressure of the atmosphere outside the station suddenly coming upon the craft would either crush the craft or cause it to violently jolt which could end up knocking out or even killing the pilot. A banshee would stand no chance. The only craft that would make it out of the station with little or no damage was… The seraph fighter in the hanger! The Arbiter was now in a race against time. If Sesa got into that fighter and escaped from the station, he could spread the heretic threat everywhere he went. No. The Arbiter was going to end this heretic leader's life here and now.

The Arbiter flew in the direction of the leg to the right of cylindrical main section, where the squad landed earlier on. That was where the seraph fighter was. The Arbiter pushed the banshee's controls to maximum power, increasing the craft's speed. Within a few seconds, the hanger he had taken off from earlier was in sight. However, the Arbiter, through the banshee's holographic landscape screen inside the craft, saw something else as well.

About fifty feet above the hanger was a large square shape hole with a fifteen foot floor space from the edge to a large closed blast door. The Arbiter instantly recognized it. It was the hanger with the seraph fighter. The Arbiter looked down towards the hanger below this one and saw a parked banshee, facing towards the wall, on it. That was most likely the heretic leader's banshee. Hopefully, he was not inside the seraph fighter hanger so the Arbiter could land, get inside and wait. However, there was one problem; the blast door. Maybe an ion blast from the craft's cannon would do the job.

Suddenly, the blast door broke in two. The two pieces moved away from each other into the walls. How the hell did that happen? Maybe it was the seraph fighter preparing to exit the hanger. The Arbiter halted his banshee and kept it in mid-air, his fingers ready to slam down on the controls to fire the banshee's weapon as soon as the enemy fighter flew out of the hanger. One second passed… now two seconds… three, where the hell was the heretic leader?

The Arbiter cautiously flew his banshee forward towards the hanger. When he was about ten feet from the hanger, the Arbiter flew his banshee upwards, still going towards the leg, a few feet and then jumped out. His feet made a loud thud as they hit the metal floor. The banshee fell down past the edge and out of sight to the clouds below.

The Arbiter took out his plasma rifle and walked into the hanger. His finger was tightening on the weapon's trigger. He knew that at any moment, the heretic leader or a Flood or a sentinel could come charging out of any of the many doors scattered around the room.

The Arbiter had walked all the way to the other end of the hanger from the blast door. He had found nothing. Maybe the heretic leader was still on his way up here, or maybe he had been attacked by Flood or sentinels.

Suddenly, the door to the right of the elevator opened up. The Arbiter saw this and ducked under the walkway. Moments later, a tall figure jumped down from the walkway and ran towards the seraph fighter. It was Sesa.

Time to end this heretic threat the Arbiter thought triumphantly as he raised his plasma rifle.

The Arbiter ran out from under the walkway and shouted

"Turn Heretic!"

Sesa, who had climbed onto the roof of the seraph fighter, chuckled and turned.

"Arbiter," he said. "I would rather you killed me than let the Prophets lead me to slaughter,"

"That can be arranged," the Arbiter replied, raising his plasma rifle. "But first, I want to know who has taught you these lies,"

Sesa only smiled. A whistle, that started quite high pitched and then went slightly low pitched, emitted from somewhere in the room. Then, a faint whirring noise appeared. The Arbiter and Sesa looked up towards the ceiling and saw a figure hovering down from the ceiling.

The figure had short straight brown hair, grey/hazel coloured eyes and a faint scar on the side of It's neck. The figure was wearing a dark blue/black bodysuit that was covered with Forerunner marking, flat soled boots, that were also part of the suit, and had a large bulge on It's left arm. His hands were not covered by the suit.

The figure landed on the floor between the Arbiter and Sesa. He looked at the Arbiter and then at Sesa. His face was instantly recognizable. It was Wally.

"The Oracle!" the Arbiter said in a shocked voice.

"Ask the Oracle about Halo," Sesa told the Arbiter. "How the Prophets would sacrifice us all for nothing,"

"I will help you in any way I can," Wally said to the Arbiter.

Suddenly, a barrage of blasts exploded in the hanger. In the blink of an eye, Sesa had whipped out two plasma rifles from the two large weapon-like objects on his back and fired at the Arbiter. Wally dived to the floor. The Arbiter ran and hid underneath the walkway. The barrage stopped abruptly.

"The Elites are blind, Arbiter!" Sesa shouted. "But I…" he pulled out ball shaped devices from the weapon-like objects on his back and dropped them on the floor of the hanger. "Will make them see!"

The Arbiter looked out from under the walkway. Oh no! There were now not one, but three Sesa's standing there, one on the seraph and two on the floor. And what was worse, they were all carrying two plasma rifles. Wally quickly stood up and hovered into the air a few metres above the floor, hoping to stay well out of this fight.

The two Sesa's on the floor fired a barrage at the Arbiter, who ran left and right underneath the walkway to avoid the deadly blasts. When the barrage stopped, the Arbiter fired a few shots from his plasma rifle at one of the Sesa's. His shield lit up but when it was finally disabled, Sesa did not spill blood. Instead, his entire body went into a light blue/green/orange fuzzy colour. The Arbiter fired another shot at the fuzzy Sesa. The blast hit him and, as if by some magic trick, he disappeared into thin air. One of the small ball shaped devices appeared just as Sesa disappeared and fell to the floor. It was a holodrone.

"You may have beaten one, Arbiter!" the Sesa on the seraph fighter shouted. "But there are two more of us to deal with!"

The other Sesa on the floor fired a barrage of blasts at the Arbiter. Some hit their target, causing the Arbiter's shield to lit up. The Arbiter quickly dived sideways to avoid another barrge of blasts. He stood up and fired a barrage of his own at the other Sesa. Again, when this Sesa's shield was disabled, he turned a fuzzy colour. A final blast made the Sesa disappear and the holodrone fell to the floor. Two down, one to go.

The Sesa on the seraph fighter growled and threw his plasma rifles to the floor. He reached onto one of the weapon-like objects on his back and pulled out an energy sword activator. The deadly energy weapon shot out of the activator. The Arbiter went wide eyed. In the past he would have usually had the energy sword, but now it seemed the odds were against him. Now it was his turn to feel the wrath of an energy sword.

"Let us see how good you are without a blade!" Sesa shouted as he jumped off the seraph fighter onto the floor.

Before the Arbiter could even blink, Sesa swung the energy sword at him. The Arbiter ducked, narrowly missing the deadly weapon as it struck the ceiling on the bottom of the walkway. The Arbiter hit Sesa in his legs with his plasma rifle. Sesa roared in pain, but did not fall. In fact the Arbiter's move only made him angrier. He lifted his sword up and brought it down towards the Arbiter, who again managed to narrowly avoid the deadly weapon.

"Your Great Journey is nothing but a lie!" Sesa shouted at the Arbiter. "Those who follow the Prophets are fools!"

"Those who are heretics and dare threaten the Great Journey are the fools!" the Arbiter shouted back as he got up after diving away from Sesa. "You and your heretic brothers are a threat to our prophets and the Covenant!"

"The prophets are fools, Arbiter!" Sesa shouted to the Arbiter. "I would expect better from you. So tell me…" Sesa jumped into the air and swung the sword down, missing the Arbiter and hitting the floor. "How did the prophets buy your loyalty?…" Sesa swung his sword up at the Arbiter, only just missing him. "A new fleet? A higher place in their fleet command?"

The Arbiter threw a punch at Sesa, hitting him in the side of the head. Sesa roared in pain and swung his energy sword at the Arbiter. This time, he hit his target. The sword broke through the armour and threw the Arbiter to the floor. The Arbiter groaned, but he could count himself lucky that the energy sword did not break through his armour and kill him.

Sesa laughed and stood over the Arbiter.

"I see the prophets have chosen poorly, Arbiter," he said.

Sesa raised his energy sword to bring down onto the Arbiter and end his enemy's life forever. The Arbiter had to do something. If he did not, then he would be shamed by his comrades in death. He would be the one responsible for letting the heretic leader escape and only spread his heresy. He would be known as the worst Covenant military leader in history and become a laughing stalk to his people.

Just as Sesa was about to bring his weapon down onto his foe, the Arbiter swung his leg into Sesa's legs. Sesa's yelled as he fell to the floor and smacked his head on the metal. His energy sword fell to the floor beside him. The Arbiter shot up, grabbed the energy sword and brought it down onto Sesa. The energy weapon broke through his shield and drove deep into his chest. Sesa gasped for breath and struggled to breathe. Slowly, his breaths got weaker. Sesa looked up at the Arbiter one more time and let out a weak mutter. Finally, Sesa's breaths stopped and he moved no more.

The Arbiter pulled the energy sword out of his foe's body and deactivated it. He placed it on the floor, grabbed Sesa's body and began pulling him towards the large blast door.

When he reached the blast door, Wally, who had decided to take cover behind a pillar just to make sure he was going to be kept out of this fight, hovered over to him and landed on the floor beside him.

"Why did you have to kill him?" he asked the Arbiter. "He did not do anything wrong!"

"I had no choice, holy Oracle," the Arbiter replied, setting Sesa's body down onto the floor, "His heresy threatened the Great Journey,"

"Oracle? Great Journey?" Wally said, unable to believe what the Arbiter meant. "Why did you call me an Oracle? And what is this Great Journey you spe-"

Suddenly, a ball of electricity surrounded Wally. His eyes watered and he clenched his teeth as the pain swept over him. He felt as if thousands of bees were constantly stinging him. It hurt like hell. Then, as if an invisible hand had grabbed him, Wally was lifted several feet up into the air and pulled towards the blast door, which had opened as the two were talking. Hovering several feet above the platform on the other side of the door was a phantom. Standing in the blast door's doorway was Tartarus. In his hand, pointed towards the two, was his Fist of Rukt.

Wally was winded completely as he hit the Fist of Rukt. Before he could even blink, Tartarus struck Wally over the head, knocking him out cold.

"That… is the Oracle?" the Arbiter exclaimed disbelievingly.

"So it is," Tartarus replied indifferently as he took Wally off the Fist of Rkt and tossed him into a gravity lift emitting down from the phantom. He hovered up into the craft and disappeared. "Come," Tartarus added. "We are leaving this system,"


	12. Delta Halo

**Date: 19th April, 2552. 14:35pm Earth time. Ten minutes after New Mombassa explosion.**

**Location: Unknown sector of space. **

The stars of space lit up the night sky. It was a beautiful sight with a sensation that could just well… make you happy again if you were angry or sad. Some people described being up in space as being in Heaven. If only it were, but the war between humanity and the Covenant was stopping that one thing everyone wanted space to be. And the war had only escalated dramatically when the Covenant attacked the human home world; Earth.

It had been a long and hard fight on Earth since the Covenant fleet attacked it. Although the UNSC vastly outnumbered the Covenant soldiers and ships, they were just unable to evacuate any cities in the way of the Covenant's advance. At least one city, Teruga in southern Italy, had been completely destroyed by a Covenant cruiser. Thankfully, everyone was evacuated just before the attack on the city came.

However, the UNSC commanders still suspicious about this attack. When the Covenant broke through the defences above the planet, they could have just dropped armies of troops in every major population centre and let them work their way out from there or they could have called for more ships and glassed the planet. But they had done none of this. Sure they had attacked a few settlements but most of them were either small cities or were famous ancient landmarks. And they did not even completely destroy any of the cities on Earth, with the exception of Teruga. Why had the Covenant done this?

The only lead, which the UNSC commanders did not even know of, was that the last super soldier Evelyn Knight and Intelligent A.I Auto had some kind of crystal diamond they had found in an underground base in southern Mexico. They knew it was Forerunner, but they did not know what It's purpose was and if the Covenant got hold of the crystal, it could mean very bad news for Earth. However, they were reports that Covenant soldiers in the other three landing zones, the fourth being in the Maya city ruins in Central America, on Earth, which were Athens in Greece, the Khmer temple ruins in Cambodia and the city of New Mombassa in Kenya, were digging up the ground or destroying old human history landmarks and uncovering large metal objects that were not of UNSC or any human making. There was something more to the Covenant attack on Earth and the UNSC had to find out what.

In space, everything was still and quiet. Nothing moved and not a sound was heard. It was a quiet place that seemed to have no noise in it at all.

Suddenly, a large white circle appeared. It grew bigger and bigger with each passing second. Then, a large object flew out of the white circle. It had a curved front section with the bottom of the front section shaped like a teaspoon. The top of the front section carried on back to connect to a robotic eagle shaped section. Several large engines stuck out of the back of the eagle-like section of the ship. It was a Covenant assault carrier coming out of slip space rupture.

As the massive ship flew out of the hole, several large chunks of debris followed. Those chunks of debris were once buildings of New Mombassa city. The carrier had slip space jumped from New Mombassa to this sector of space. But why? There must have been something here that the Covenant wanted to get to.

As the hole began to disappear, a last object flew out of the hole. It had a main rectangular section with two smaller rectangular sections coming off the back of the main rectangular section. On the back of the two smaller rectangular sections were engines. Between the two was an enormous cube shaped section that also came out of the back and part of the bottom of the main rectangular section of the object. It was the _Amber Clad_.

**Amber Clad Bridge**

In the bridge of the _Amber Clad_, Mary grabbed hold of the sides of her seat to stop herself from being thrown onto the ground as the ship came to a sudden halt after exiting the slip space rupture.

"Whoa…" Mary exclaimed as she grabbed her seat. "Report,"

"Both engine cores have spun to zero," a nearby worker replied. "We're drifting,"

"What about are defences?" Mary asked.

"The ship's Archer pods are cold," another nearby worker answered. "I'll need to re-key the system,"

"Do it and find out where we are," Mary ordered as she rubbed the side of her head.

_"Everything okay up there, commander?"_ John's voice erupted all of a sudden from the chair's built in com.

"If only," Mary replied. "Sorry for the quick jump, sergeant. You in one piece,"

_"Yeah, don't worry I'm good,"_ John replied. _"Eve, Auto. You two alright?"_

_"We're fine,"_ came Auto's voice.

The _Amber Clad _flew further into space after the assault carrier, which was already quite a distance ahead of them.

"Ma'am," one of the workers on the bridge of the _Amber Clad_ said all of a sudden. "There's an object coming into view,"

Mary looked out through the bridge's window into space. A large blue planet was visible to the left of the window. In the back ground were thousands of white lights. However, there was something else in view as well. As the ship got closer, Mary could see it was… it was another ring!

**Amber Clad hanger**

The _Amber Clad_ had many hangers scattered around the ship. This hanger was located at the front of the large cube section of the ship. It was a large square shape with multiple doors going along the back, left and right walls. Scattered around the hanger were several pelicans and long sword fighters. The pelicans, all but one which was parked on the hanger floor, were being held above the floor by large metal pincers whilst the long sword fighters parked on the floor, all facing the direction of the hanger blast door.

Standing near the blast door was Eve. She had to stay in the pelican as soon as it landed in the hanger. She had only just left the pelican and was now looking out into space.

It was then, her eyes rested on something far ahead of the ship. In front of the large blue planet was a circular shaped world. As they got closer, the strange world became more visible. Eve's eyes went wide as if they had seen something terrifying. Auto whispered something under his breath. Both were completely breath-taken at the sight before them.

_"Auto,"_ came Mary's voice. _"What exactly am I looking at?"_ she asked him.

"That…" Auto replied through his com. "Is another Halo,"

Eve's ear radio suddenly came to life. A cough erupted from it.

_"What did you just say?" _came John's voice in a surprised voice.

_"So this is what my father found," _Mary said. _"But I thought Halo was some kind of super weapon,"_

"It is," Auto replied. "If activated, this ring will cause destruction on a galactic scale,"

Eve gazed out at the ring. Her breath had been completely stolen from her at the sight of this ring. She could not believe it. Neither could Auto. They thought they had destroyed Halo. Either the ring had rebuilt itself or this was another ring constructed by the Forerunners.

Wait a minute. When they were on Halo, Eve and Auto could remember something Juggernaut had told them.

**"They created it to destroy the Flood's chance of spreading should another outbreak occur. But this is just one ring. As this ring has a maximum effective radius of twenty five thousand light years, the other will also activate"**

So there were more than one of these rings. The question was; how many? The Covenant could inadvertently activate them and end up destroying all life in the universe. Or worse; they could end up releasing the Flood again on one of the rings, only this time it might escape and spread to other worlds.

_"Auto, I need all the information you have on the first Halo." _Mary ordered. _"Schematics, topography, whatever. I need all of it,"_

"Yes, ma'am," Auto replied.

_"Where's our target?"_ Mary asked.

_"The enemy ship has stopped above the inner surface of the ring, ma'am," _worker in the background answered.

_"Perfect!"_ Mary replied. _"Head straight towards the ring."_

The _Amber Clad_ flew full speed towards the ring. Those in the bridge could only just see the carrier ahead of them.

_"Given what we know about this ring, It's even more important that we capture the prophet of Regret," _Mary said. _"Find out why he came to Earth, and more importantly; why he came here? Eve, take first platoon. Hard drop, secure a landing zone,"_

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"Roger that, commander," she said.

_"John, you take two flights of pelicans and follow them in,"_ Mary added.

_"Roger that,"_ John replied.

"Well, we better get moving," Auto said.

Eve nodded and ran towards one of the side doors on the right wall. It opened as she approached it. Above the door were the words HEV bay. Eve ran through the doorway into a long room that had six large objects along both walls going down the room. The objects had four Covenant shade turret-like pillars on all four corners of a large box shaped section in the middle of the four pillars. To enter them was a long walkway that ran down the middle of the room to another door at the other end.

These objects were called Single Occupant Exo-atmospheric Insertion Vehicles, or HEV's (standing for Human Entry Vehicle) for short. These vehicles were launched from UNSC ships with an ODST inside them. They would then land anywhere within an area designated and allow the ODST's to continue with a mission. They could pretty much breath through any surface, except for the ground and a very strongly reinforced building's roof.

Eve walked up to the HEV on her right. The hatch automatically opened for her. The inside of the vehicle was a silver colour and had a battle rifle held in two large pincers on the left wall. Below the battle rifle, being held in small compartments, were several fragmentation grenades. The ceiling of the inside of the HEV was quite low, only just tall enough for Eve, because inside it was a chute that would open up when the HEV was several thousand feet from the ground of whatever planet they were on.

Eve stepped into the HEV. She turned and rested herself against the back wall of the HEV's inside. The hatch lowered down, making a small boom as it closed, sealing Eve off from the room. A small window opened up on the hatch, giving Eve a small view of the HEV bay. Several other small booms followed a few seconds later, indicating other ODST soldiers were boarding the HEV's.

_"Over the target in five,"_ a voice said from Eve's ear radio.

Eve breathed in and waited for the enormous jolt. She also pushed her hands onto the walls to give her extra support in staying still and not flying upwards when the HEV launched and smacking her head on the ceiling.

The HEV jolted violently. Eve looked through the window and saw the view change from a silver coloured room with another HEV just across from her to a black landscape filled with hundreds of small white lights. The HEV had just launched from the _Amber Clad_ and was now in space travelling down towards Halo at least a thousand feet a second.

"Mind the bump," Auto said.

Eve rolled her eyes and pushed harder on the walls with her hands. Although the jolt danger had passed, it was not over. As soon as the HEV had entered Halo's atmosphere and was only a few seconds from the surface of the ring the chute would deploy to slow it down, creating another violent jolt.

As Eve's HEV flew down towards the inner surface of the ring, five others followed. A hard fight was ahead of them.

**Five minutes later**

_**Delta Halo's**_** surface**

The inner surface of _Delta Halo_ was much like the Halo Eve and Auto had destroyed. It had many mountain ranges, jungles, islands and valleys, giving the ring It's own natural beauty.

On an island, which was part of a group of several other islands surrounded by a beautiful crystal blue sea, Covenant forces had been deployed. This island was covered with several small hills, rivers, trees and even several rock structures that had a slight resemblance to Maya buildings on Earth. The Covenant forces were in an area that was dotted with small hills, several groups of trees, a river flowing inland from the sea, the beach a few hundred yards away, and had a small cube shaped rock building with several openings on the sides and a doorway leading inside the building. The outside was covered with plants that had grown on it over… well however long it was there.

On a small hill next to a small river, a Covenant shade turret was perched near the top as if it was alive and keeping guard over the river for any trespassers. Behind it was a Covenant Grunt sitting on the ground, playing with two plasma grenades by pushing them between It's hands, and a Jackal that was scanning the area watching several other Covenant soldiers scattered around the area.

The Jackal scratched It's chin as it scanned the area. It then looked up at the sky. A few clouds hung in the air but the Jackal could see the outline of the top part of _Delta Halo_, promising that it was most likely to be a nice day.

As the Jackal turned away from looking at the sky, It's head suddenly darted back up. Several fiery objects were coming out of the clouds. The Jackal watched the objects as they descended further from the sky. Were they comets? No, they could not be. If they were, then the carrier would have alerted them.

Up in the sky, the HEV's fell closer to the island's surface. They were going so fast that they were leaving a fiery trail behind them like a comet would do when it would come into a planet's atmosphere. Inside the HEV closest to the ground, Eve had her eyes closed and teeth gritted. The vehicle was starting to shake and the second jolt had still not come.

_Riding a HEV is the worst thing ever!_ Eve thought miserably.

Suddenly, Eve almost screamed as the HEV jolted and slowed down, almost throwing her into the ceiling. Her heart beat madly against her chest from the shock of almost having herself knocked out.

"Whose side are these things on!" Eve grumbled to herself.

The other HEV's jolted as the chutes shot out of the top of the vehicles, slowing them down. They were now four thousand feet from the island. However, the crews had no idea that if the Covenant realised what the vehicles were, they HEV's would quickly be blasted out of the sky by the shade turrets.

Meanwhile, the Jackal was still watching the objects come closer to the ground. They were getting easier to identify. The creature's good eyesight saw the things as… HEV'S!

Immediately, the Jackal activated his shield and let out a screech as it pointed up into the sky. The Grunt sitting on the floor near him looked up and saw the incoming threat. It got up and climbed onto the shade turret. The Grunt then aimed the turret up into the sky and fired a barrage of blasts at the human vehicles. Another shade turret, also manned by a Grunt, on the top of the cube shaped building fired up at the HEV's as well. They were determined to destroy the human presence on the Sacred Ring.

Luckily, only just, the chutes had detached themselves from the HEV's, causing them to fall to the ground at a fast speed once again. However, as they neared the ground several thrusters on the bottom of the HEV's activated, slowing them down so they were not torn apart when they hit the ground.

THUD! A HEV hit the ground next to the river. THUD! THUD! Two more landed behind a hill. A Covenant minor Elite, armed with a plasma rifle, charged towards the HEV next to the river. Covenant forces did not know much about these UNSC vehicles, but they did know that there was a hatch on the front that whoever was inside had to force open to get out. The Elite stood in front of the HEV, It's plasma rifle raised at the vehicle. It was going to surprise the crew member inside the HEV. It was going to enjoy killing the human inside.

CRASH! The door of the hatch was hit with such force that it flew off the HEV. This was not what the Elite was expecting, but before it could even blink the door hit the creature in the head and chest, throwing it to the floor. Eve ran out of the HEV holding a battle rifle. She spotted the Elite on the floor. The creature, whose weapon was dropped on the ground, went to grab It's weapon. Eve fired a burst of ammo out of her battle rifle at the Elite, killing it.

Eve scanned the scene around her. The second and third HEV's had crashed behind a hill a few metres to her right. Another loud thud erupted from behind another hill to Eve's left. That was four, but where was the last HEV?

Eve got her answer when an almighty crash filled the air. It came from ahead, in the direction of the building. A small cloud of dust up into the air. By the looks of it, the last HEV went straight through the roof of the building.

Eve ran right towards the other crashed HEV's. The sounds of guns and blasts filled the air. As she got closer to the two HEV's, she could see the two ODST's, both armed with battle rifles, taking cover behind a fallen tree. They were firing at the Covenant shade turret on the hill. SO far, they were not having any progress with the turret's armour protecting the Grunt piloting the weapon.

"At this rate, we'll never break through!" one of the ODST's growled.

Another blast hit the side of the tree, narrowly missing the other ODST's hand.

"I've got an idea," Eve said. "Just keep them distracted,"

"Where are you going?" the other ODST asked her.

"You'll see," Eve replied.

Eve got up and ran right into a nearby group of trees. The turret's blasts ripped up the ground behind her but, thankfully, they all missed. Eve hid behind one of the trees and poked her head out from behind it. She could see the turret resume It's firing on the two ODST soldiers. Perfect! With the turret distracted, Eve could find a place to fire on it whilst the Covenant were distracted.

Eve ran out from behind the trees towards the building. From where she was, a huge hole was visible in the building's side and even part of the ceiling had caved in because of the HEV. As Eve got closer, she could see the other shade turret lying destroyed on the ground with one piece of the armour and one of the guns torn off. The Grunt that was piloting the turret was lying dead on top of the pile of rubble.

Eve ran up to the building and climbed through the rubble to get inside. When she had done so, she saw the hatch lying on the floor. However, she also saw blood across it and the floor. It led through the doorway outside. Eve walked over to the doorway and saw the ODST soldier that was piloting the craft lying dead on the ground, a huge burn mark on the back of his uniform. By the looks of it, he had been wounded when his HEV crashed through the roof or by any Covenant soldiers around the building and was killed by the Covenant shade turret. Eve sighed and ran out of the building back into the war zone.

After a few moments of searching, she found the perfect to fire on the other Covenant shade turret. It was a large rock at the bottom of the hill the turret was on, just on the other side of the river. Eve ran down the bank and across the river, which was only about two feet deep and was not very fast moving. She was quiet not to make a splashing noise with her boots so the Jackal and the Grunt did not hear her.

Finally, Eve reached the rock and ducked down behind it. She loaded another clip into her battle rifle and poked her head out from behind the rock. Just a few metres up the hill, Eve could the back of the Grunt and the top of the Jackal's shield. The only problem Eve had to worry about now was sneaking up the hill without alerting the Jackal or the Grunt and killing them.

Eve raised her battle rifle and crept up the hill towards the Covenant troops at the top. As she got closer, she could see the Jackal slowly becoming more visible. After a few seconds, Eve stopped. She was now just a few feet behind the two Covenant soldiers. They were still oblivious to the threat behind them. Eve rested her finger on the trigger and pushed down.

A burst of ammo exploded in the air, followed by the scream of a Grunt as it fell off the turret onto the ground dead. The Jackal shot round, only to get hit with another burst of ammo to It's face. The creature fell to the ground, dead.

_"Good work, Eve,"_ John's voice said out of her era radio. _"We're starting our approach. Hang tight,"_

As soon as John finished speaking, a whirring sound filled Eve's ears. It was coming from the air. Eve scanned the skies in search of the source of the noise. As she was looking over the top of the small ridge that was a few metres behind the building, she found it. The source of the noise was a phantom.

"Covenant incoming!" Eve shouted down to the other ODST's.

The rest of the squad ran over to the hill and took up positions around it. One of the soldiers took cover behind the rock at the bottom of the hill. The other two laid down on the top of the hill near the turret and aimed their weapons up at the phantom as it flew over the ridge. Eve climbed into the shade turret. It activated and was now usable.

Eve aimed the turret towards the phantom as it stopped above the right side of the river. The three enormous cannons turned towards the hill and fired a barrage at it. The blasts hit the top, side and the bottom of the hill in an attempt to either kill the humans or pin them down so there would be no trouble when dropping down the troops. Eve pushed her fingers down on the turret's trigger, causing a barrage of red blasts to shoot out of the turret and head straight for the phantom.

Then, as quickly as it came, the phantom flew off into the sky and disappeared behind the ridge. However, on the ground below where it was just seconds earlier was a squad of Covenant soldiers. It was made up of a major Elite, four Grunts and two Jackals. All of them were determined to protect their holy Prophet and kill the humans, especially Eve.

"The demon is here!" the major Elite shouted pointing up at her. "Kill her and any other humans! Show no mercy!"

The rest of the Covenant squad charged towards their human enemies on the hill. The major Elite fired a barrage from It's plasma rifle up at the hill. Some of the blasts hit the turret. One of them hit Eve, causing her shield to light up. Eve turned the turret towards the major Elite and pushed down on the trigger. Another barrage of red blasts shot out of the weapon and hit the Elite. It's shield lit up. The Elite tried to dive for cover but the blasts hitting it were too much for the creature and were stopping it from trying to flee. Finally, a final blast broke through the Elite's shield and hit the creature in It's chest. The Elite yelled loudly and fell to the ground, dead.

With the Elite dead, the rest of the squad could now fire on the remaining Covenant. Eve fired down at one of the Jackals as it tried to run across the river. Despite covering It's body with It's shield, the Jackal was helpless against the power of the shade turret. The blasts easily broke though the shield and hit the Jackal. The creature fell to the ground, dead. The two ODST soldiers behind Eve were firing down at two Grunts armed with plasma pistols. They fired up at the humans, but because their enemies were laying down it was hard to hit them. The ODST's fired a barrage of bullets down at the two Grunts, The armour was not match against them. The bullets embedded themselves deep within the Grunts and they fell to the ground, dead.

"AHHHH!"

Eve turned the turret round. The two ODST soldiers ran over to the edge of the hill and looked down. Behind the rock was their fellow comrade, lying dead in a pool of blood. Loud splashes drew the two's attention to the river. The last remaining Grunt and Jackal were running over to kill the humans. Eve fired two blasts down at them. Both hit their targets in the head, killing them.

With the Covenant squad dealt with, the two ODST's laid down either side of the shade turret in case another phantom was on It's way with more Covenant troops. Eve kept her trigger fingers ready. She knew that at any moment, another Covenant phantom could fly out of nowhere and drop another Covenant squad that was most likely to be larger and have more experienced troops.

Just moments later, another whirring sound filled the air. Eve's fingers tightened on the turret's trigger. The two ODST soldiers lying down either side of the turret reloaded their guns. They were ready for another fight.

_"You guys don't need to worry,"_ Auto said through his com. _"It's a pelican,"_

He was right. A pelican flew out from the clouds and descended towards the area the squad were in. As it got closer to the ground, the squad could see that a warthog, with a machine gun turret, in front of the pelican's entrance. The pelican's descent slowed as the craft got closer to the ground. When it was about fifteen feet above a clearing, the metal pincers holding the warthog opened up, releasing the vehicle. A loud crash filled the air as the wheels hit the ground.

Eve got off the turret and ran down the hill with the two ODST soldiers. They ran across the river over to the warthog. The pelican hovered back up into the air.

_"I got a good view coming in,"_ John's voice said. _"There's a large pyramid-like structure on an island in the middle of this island group,"_

_"I saw it too as we were coming down,"_ Auto replied through his com. _"It looks like a temple. If I were a megalomaniac, which I am not… _("You do act like one, though" Eve said.)_… then that's where I would be," _

_"Roger that,"_ John said as the pelican flew off into the sky. _"You guys better start making a move towards that island."_

Eve nodded and ran over to the warthog with the ODST soldiers. She climbed into the driver's seat whilst one of the ODST's got into the passenger and the other climbed onto the machine gun turret. Eve started the warthog. The engine hummed. Eve reversed the warthog and then spun it round at a 180 degree angle so the front of the vehicle was now facing the ridge. Eve sat up in her seat and scanned the ridge for a path that would take them out of this area of the island.

She found it. There was a small gap in the ridge only just big enough for the warthog to drive down. The squad had no idea where the path led to, but they could not stay here. They had a mission to get on with.

Eve drove the warthog forward into the path. Very quickly, they found themselves in a thin path with two tall rock walls. The two ODST soldiers kept their trigger fingers ready. This was the perfect place for the Covenant to ambush them. If they did, they would stand no chance.

Finally, the threat of an ambush passed as the warthog came out of the path into another open area covered with trees, hills and even a river. But this river was much wider and deeper, too deep for the warthog to go across. However, there was also a large cube shaped building next to the river. Next to the building was a hole about twenty feet wide. There was another hole, in exactly the same position as the hole on the squad's side, on the other side of the river. Also on the other side of the river was a tall and wide hill about seventy feet high with a large cave going through it.

Eve scanned the scene around them. Apart from them, there was no one else in this area. By the looks of it, the Covenant they had just encountered were only a recon team.

Suddenly, something big moved on the other side of the river. Eve looked in that direction. A large object, shaped like a chair and coloured purple, moved out from behind a rock fall. It was a wraith.

"Oh no!" Auto said. "We're stuck over here and if that wraith see's us, we won't stand a chance!"

"Maybe if we get over to the building, there could be something to make a path hat would get us across the river," Eve replied.

"LOOK OUT!" the ODST in the passenger seat yelled.

Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator, causing the warthog to shoot forward. Although this sudden speed burst almost threw Eve and the two soldiers out of the warthog, it saved the three from being blown apart by a mortar shell.

BOOM! The mortar shell exploded, throwing up an enormous cloud of dirt and dust. That mortar shell came from the wraith across the river. Eve drove the warthog towards the river, only to skid to a halt to avoid another mortar shell that blew an enormous hole in the ground.

Eve skidded the warthog to a halt outside the building.

"One of you keep driving," she said to the two ODST soldiers. "I'll try and find anything in here that will get us across."

The ODST in the passenger seat nodded and climbed into the driver's seat. Eve ran through a doorway in the side of the building. She found herself in a short bronze coloured corridor with another doorway about half-way down it on the left wall. Eve ran down the corridor towards the doorway.

Suddenly, she skidded to a halt. She could hear… voices? Yes they were voices. Eve crept over to the doorway and looked into the room. She could see the shadows of an Elite and a few Grunts on the right wall. She could also hear some kind of metallic voice in the room. She had never heard it before. It had to be something important to the Covenant. Whatever it was, she was going to have find out once the Covenant squad had been dealt with.

Eve loaded another clip into her battle rifle. She took a deep breath and jumped into the doorway and fired a barrage into the room.

The screams of dying Covenant filled the air. After a few seconds, the barrage stopped. Eve lowered her battle rifle. The Elite and three Grunts were lying dead on the floor, being taken fully by surprise. Eve scanned the room. There was a large window on the opposite wall with a small control panel below it. It was then Eve saw the source of the metallic voice.

In the middle of the room was a purple cylindrical panel with a small glowing white circle about ten centimetres long and wide. The object was resting on the top of the panel. Eve walked over to the panel, her grip on the battle rifle hard. She was ready to fire at this thing in case it suddenly turned into a Covenant turret or beacon.

Suddenly, when Eve was two feet from the object, a hologram shot up out of the panel and hovered several feet in the air, startling Eve slightly. It's back was facing her so she walked around to the front of the hologram. The hologram was an alien with some large crown on It's head dressed in some kind of robes and sitting in a hover chair which looked like a throne. The hologram was chanting a sermon of some kind.

"What, or who, is that?" Eve asked.

"That's the Covenant leader we're after," Auto answered. "That's Regret!"

Eve went wide eyed as she stared at the hologram. She had finally seen what Regret looked like. She had never seen an alien like him before. But on first glance, he did look like one of the Covenant prophets because of his robes and probably whatever he was chanting.

"Do you think this panel's a beacon?" Eve asked Auto.

"No," Auto answered. "It's probably more of a hologram to inspire the troops. Anyway, we better find a way across the river, and be prepared. Regret will most likely have every soldier on his ship down here to guard the way to him."

Eve nodded and turned to face the opposite wall. The window gave a clear view of the two wraiths moving about on the other side of the river. One of them fired another mortar blast over to this side of the river, signalling that the soldiers were still alive but they would not be for long.

Eve rested her hand on a small oval shaped button. At once, a wave of light blue light swept out of the oval shaped button over the control panel and disappeared when it hit the wall. The sound of large moving metal could be heard. It was coming from underneath the building. Eve looked up through the window again to see the tip of a large dark purple/silver coloured rectangular shaped pathway come out of the hole and stretch across the lake. Another rectangular shaped pathway came out of the other hole and connected with the other about half-way across the river.

"We've done it," Auto said. "Now let's get back outside,"

Eve nodded and ran out of the room down the corridor. When she came outside, she saw the warthog, with both soldiers still alive, skid sideways to avoid another mortar blast. The driver saw Eve and drove over to Eve.

"All yours Eve," he said as he climbed back into the passenger seat.

Eve climbed into the driver's seat and slammed her foot down on the accelerator, causing the warthog to shoot forward and narrowly avoid another mortar blast that exploded on the ground where the vehicle just was.

Eve spun the vehicle round and rove full speed towards the bridge going across the river. The two wraiths fired at the bridge in an attempt to destroy it, but the blasts did absolutely no damage at all. Not even a mark was left. Eve drove the warthog across the bridge. The machine gun turret chattered away as the vehicle was half-way across the bridge. One of the wraiths fired another blast at the bridge. It missed and exploded on the water a few feet from the bridge. The bullets continued to hit the armour on the wraith. A small pillar of smoke rose up from the massive vehicle.

BOOM! The wraith exploded into a fireball. The body of the pilot Elite was thrown up into the air and landed on the floor among the burning remains of the wraith as the vehicle fell to the ground. The ODST on the machine gun turret turned and began firing away at the other wraith as Eve drove the warthog off the bridge. The wraith fired a blast at the warthog. However, it missed and exploded on the ground. Within moments, another pillar of smoke rose up from the wraith. It was close to exploding.

BOOM! The wraith exploded, throwing the Elite driving the vehicle up into the air on the ground. The burning remains of the vehicle fell around it. Eve slowed the warthog to a halt.

"Alright, now where do we go?" She asked herself as she sat up in her seat and scanned this side of the river.

"Over there," the ODST in the passenger seat answered, pointing over to the large cave going through the hill.

Eve drove the warthog towards the cave. When the vehicle was inside, the three found themselves in a tunnel that was normally lit! There must have been some Forerunner structure inside the hill that was keeping the cave lit like it normally was outside.

As the warthog drove further down the tunnel, Eve noticed something about the ground up ahead. As they got closer, she saw the ground had gone from dirt to faded yellow/gold coloured stone. The warthog rolled onto the stone, making it slightly hard to drive as the stone floor was completely smooth and quite slippery for a warthog's tires.

"I hope we don't crash," the ODST in the passenger seat said as he looked down at the stone floor.

"Please don't say that because we will," Eve replied.

"What do you guys think causes the cave to stay normally lit?" the ODST on the turret asked the two.

"Probably a Forerunner structure inside the hill," Eve suggested. "They're the beings who created this ring,"

"I swear they built another that you and Auto destroyed," the ODST in the passenger seat said to Eve, who replied with a nod.

"That's right," she replied. "It was a super weapon capable of destroying all life in the galaxy. It's obvious now there's more than one but I don't know fully how many there are,"

"Let's just hope the Covenant don't either," the ODST on the turret muttered.

Up ahead came a turning that went right. Eve turned the warthog right into another long and wide pathway that had part of It's right side rise up about ten feet, creating a small archway. Eve, suddenly, stopped the vehicle.

"What's the matter?" the ODST in the passenger seat asked.

"Look up ahead," Eve replied, nodding towards the other end of the path about forty feet ahead.

The two soldiers looked towards the other end of the pathway. Parked at the end were two ghosts. Next to them was a Covenant shade turret. Leaning against the ghosts were two Elites. Sitting on the floor were three Grunts. They were all bored. They had nothing to do, yet they had no idea that their enemies were here.

"Should we try and find another way around them?" the ODST on the turret asked.

"No," Eve replied. "This could be the only way through the hill. Just get ready to fire on them."

Eve revved the warthog's engine. The ODST's readied their weapons for the fight that was to come. They knew that the ghosts would easily defeat them if the Elites managed to get into them so they had to be quick in killing the Covenant soldiers.

All of a sudden, the sound of screeching tires filled the air. The warthog shot down the tunnel towards the Covenant at the end. When the vehicle was about half-way down the path, the machine gun opened fire. The Covenant were taken by surprise, but they also reacted quickly.

One of the Elites jumped into one of the ghosts. The craft hovered up from the ground and flew full speed towards the warthog. The Elite fired a barrage of blasts from the ghost's cannon. The ODST on the warthog retaliated by firing a barrage of bullets at the Covenant vehicle. The ghost was no match for the warthog's bullets.

BOOM! The vehicle exploded, sending the burning remains and the dead Elite onto the ground. The ODST's then fired a barrage of bullets at the other Covenant forces. The passenger ODST hit and killed the other Elite just as it tried to board the other ghost. The ODST on the warthog's machine gun turret fired a barrage at the Grunts, one who was on the shade turret. The weapon's armour was no match for the machine gun. The turret broke apart and fell to the floor, also letting off a small energy bang which killed the Grunt on the turret.

"TURRET DEAD!" one of the remaining Grunts screamed. "RUN AWAY!"

The two Grunts ran from the body of their dead comrades, screaming and waving their arms in terror. They ran left and disappeared behind a wall.

"Looks like another path up ahead," Auto said through his com. "Let's go after them,"

Eve nodded and drove the warthog down the pathway after the two Grunts. When they reached the end, she turned the warthog right into another pathway and drove down that one. This pathway was shorter and turned right. The squad could see rays of sunlight coming in from the right pathway, meaning it must have led outside.

Eve drove the warthog down the pathway and turned right into the next one. Eve suddenly stopped the warthog. They were greeted by a beautiful view of the sea and another island in the distance. There was a path to their right leading down through the jungle to the coast which had a large structure near a platform that rose about thirty feet above the ground.

"Wow," Eve said as she surveyed the scene in front of them. "This place is beautiful,"

"That's what I don't like," the ODST in the passenger seat said. "We get to a world that looks like the perfect one and then we end up having to destroy it,"

Eve let out a silent smirk.

Suddenly, the machine gun turret fired a barrage down the path to the squad's right. Eve and the passenger ODST looked to see a ghost charging towards them. But before they could fire…

BOOM! The Covenant vehicle exploded into a fireball. The Elite piloting the vehicle flew through the air and landed on the ground, dead.

"We better hurry," the ODST on the turret said. "They'll know we're coming,"

Eve nodded and started the warthog again. She drove the vehicle down the path towards the bottom. The jungle canopy grew higher as they went further down towards the ground. When they were half-way down the path, the three saw the bodies of two dead Grunts. The Elite piloting the ghost probably kill the two Grunts because they were fleeing, which is mostly seen as a dishonour to the Covenant.

The warthog drove onto normal ground and down another path that cut through the trees. At the other end, the squad could see the large structure next to the platform. What were then structures there for? Maybe for some kind of transportation that would get the three across the next island.

As the warthog was about half-way down the path, a purple shot suddenly fired out of the trees and hit the side of the vehicle.

"Watch out! Sniper!" the ODST on the turret shouted.

Eve slammed her foot down on the accelerator, pushing the warthog to maximum speed. The machine gun turret chattered away as they drove down the path. The ODST's fired on the trees on both sides. Occasionally another purple shot would fire out from the trees but after the bullets hit where they came from, they would stop. Eve took a quick look over her shoulder and even saw the body of a Jackal, which was most likely what the sniper was to be, fall from the branches onto the ground.

Finally, the warthog drove out of the trees onto the beach where the platform and the structure were. Eve stopped the vehicle, picked up her battle rifle and got out; the ODST's did the same.

Eve gazed at the structure. It had a large cube shaped base, about fifty feet long and twenty feet high, with a small doorway shaped opening the side. On the top of the cube base was a wide vertical rectangular shaped section that went up into the air about sixty feet . Near the top of the rectangular section were four pyramid base triangle shaped sections, one on each side of the rectangle, that must have either been viewpoints or bridges because Eve could just make out a window on each of them. About half-way down the rectangular section of the structure was a small pathway that led onto the platform, a large flat metal square shape that was being held up by four wide legs at each of It's corners.

"This must be some kind of station," Auto suggested. "But if it is, there's no vehicle on the platform."

"Maybe It's over on the other island," Eve replied. "We'll just have to try and find a way to get it back over here,"

Eve ran over to the doorway; the ODST's followed. When they reached the doorway, Eve raised her battle rifle and looked inside. There was a large room with dark blue coloured walls and a silver floor and ceiling. There was a large light silver section of the floor that was directly beneath a square shaped hole in the ceiling that led into a tunnel.

Eve stepped into the room, scanning it with her battle rifle. If any Covenant were preparing to ambush them, she would be ready to take them down. Luckily, there were no Covenant present in the room. Eve lowered her battle rifle and looked over her shoulder.

"It's okay, you can come in," she said.

The two ODST soldiers walked into the room. Although it did look safe, they had their hands on their weapons ready to take on any Covenant.

Eve walked over to the middle of the room, where she saw the light silver section of the floor. She stepped onto the light section. The two ODST's walked over and did the same.

The three jolted slightly as the light silver section of the floor hovered up into the air towards the tunnel. It was a lift. Within seconds, the three were surrounded by dark blue walls that were closer to them as if they were closing in. Eve looked up the tunnel and just faintly saw the light of day at the top.

The three jolted again as the lift stopped alongside a wide flat pathway that led to a large silver door that was closed. However, the three were also greeted by a group of Covenant Grunts being led by an Elite.

"Bad guys!" one of the Grunts shouted, pointing It's plasma pistol at the squad.

Eve raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at the Covenant squad, killing a Grunt. The Elite growled and fired a barrage of sky blue blasts at her. One hit her shield, causing it to light up. Eve and the ODST's fired on the Elite. The bullets quickly broke through It's shield and killed the creature.

"LEADER DEAD!" one of the Grunts screamed. "RUN AWAY!"

The remaining three Grunts turned and ran for their lives, waving their arms in terror. The two ODST's raised their weapons and fired on the Covenant soldiers, killing them.

"Alright, let's go," Eve said.

Eve ran down the pathway towards the door at the end; the ODST's followed. As the squad got closer to the door, it suddenly opened up, revealing the outside world to the squad. Probably automatically controlled. The squad ran through the doorway and across the pathway onto the platform. Eve scanned the scene around them.

"What do we do now?" one of the ODST's asked.

"I don't know," Eve replied. "There has to be some way of getting across to the other island,"

"There is!" Auto suddenly exclaimed. "Look out towards the other island,"

The three did so and saw a large shape coming towards them. It must have been about half-way between this island and the second island, or even further away, because it was too far out for the squad to make out what it was.

"What the hell is that?" Eve asked.

"I don't know," Auto replied. "But if It's a transport, then I hope we can use it to get across the next island."

Suddenly, a loud whirring noise filled the air. Eve recognized it immediately and looked up. She was right. The shape of a phantom flew down towards the platform. It's three plasma cannons aimed down at the squad and fired a barrage of blasts at them. The three managed to dodge them and retaliated by firing back up at the phantom. The circle on the bottom of the craft opened up and two large figures dropped down from the craft. Eve gasped.

They were Hunters!

Immediately after dropping the Hunters on the platform, the phantom flew away and disappeared behind the top of the structure. The Hunters charged up their cannons and fired two powerful lasers at the squad. Eve yelped and dived to the floor. The lasers shot over her head and disappeared about half-way over the clearing towards the jungle.

Eve got up and fired a burst of ammo at one of the Hunters' face, causing a small flow of orange blood to flow. The Hunter growled and charged towards It's human enemy, determined to kill her. Eve dived to her side as the Hunter swung It's massive metal sword and brought it down with a loud thud, driving the weapon deep into the metal floor. The ODST's raised their weapons and fired a barrage of bullets at the Hunter's exposed weak spot on It's back. The bullets easily tore through the skin, damaging the Hunter's insides. The Hunter could not take the barrage for long and it, after a few seconds, fell forward onto the floor, dead.

The other Hunter growled loudly and charged towards the two ODST's, It's fury at It's highest level. It wanted to kill the three humans painfully for killing It's comrade. The Hunter swung It's sword sideways and the tip of the weapon hit the ODST in the chest. The sharp metal easily cut through the skin of the human and he fell to the floor. He did not get back up. A pool of dark red quickly spread out around his body.

"YOU BASTARD!" the other ODST yelled.

Eve raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at the Hunter's back. The Hunter growled, shot round and charged full speed towards Eve. Eve gritted her teeth in anger and aimed her battle rifle at the Hunter. She fired two bursts of ammo from the weapon. The wave of bullets hit the Hunter's face. The creature roared in pain and placed It's metal hand over It's face as if it tried to pull the bullets out. The other ODST then raised his weapon and fired a round at the Hunter's back, killing the creature.

Eve let out a deep breath as she lowered her battle rifle. She cursed the body of the Hunter under her breath. She really hated the Covenant.

_Humanity has done nothing to them _she thought angrily. _We were just minding our own business and suddenly these beings come an attack us_

The obvious reason for Eve hatred for the Covenant was because they killed all her friends. Sometimes, she just wished she could just have every Covenant soldier standing in front of her so she could kill them and end this war.

Eve heaved a heavy sigh. She cursed herself for thinking such things. The Covenant probably cursed the humans but she knew there was no reason to follow their example. It was just an outburst but… it was just how she felt. Each human's death lowered mankind's hopes for winning this war.

"Eve, look!" the other ODST exclaimed, pointing over to the edge of the platform.

Eve looked over to where the ODST was pointing. Next to the platform was the vehicle the squad had seen coming over from the second island. The vehicle had a large square shaped floor with a drop in the middle of it that led down to a wall that was placed in the middle of the drop. On the wall was a control panel. There was a large wide roof that rose over the drop and set down on both sides of the drop. One side of a large long sword fighter-like wing stuck up from the roof about thirty feet into the air. Another long sword fighter-like wing stuck out from the bottom of the square. This wing was slightly wider than the one on the top because there were two large silos on it. One on the back and one on the front to move the vehicle in whatever direction it had been called to. It was a gondola.

Eve raised her battle rifle and walked cautiously towards the gondola. As she approached the massive vehicle, it became obvious that somebody, or something, was already on board the gondola.

"Who's there?" Eve demanded.

She got her answer when a blast shot out of the gondola and hit her bodysuit, causing It's shield to light up. Eve fired a burst of ammo into the gondola. A yell erupted out from the vehicle, most likely to be a Grunt's. Only a second later, the tall and bulky figure of an Elite ran out of the gondola's drop onto the platform. It was a major and was armed with a needler.

"Prepare for your fate, demon!" the Elite growled.

The Elite raised It's plasma rifle and fired a barrage of blasts at her. Eve dived to her side to avoid them. The ODST fired a barrage of bullets from his weapon at the Elite. Although this did almost no damage other than cause the Elite's shield to light up, it did draw the Elite's attention. Eve saw this and quickly fired a barrage of bullets at the Elite, killing the creature.

With the Elite dead, any more Covenant on the gondola would most likely panic and flee. Eve and the ODST ran onto the vehicle, their weapons raised ready to fire on any Covenant they came across. They searched the platform, the drop in the gondola and checked the top and even the bottom wings of the vehicle to make sure there were no Jackals or Drones clinging to the side of the craft.

"Alright," Eve said. "Let's get across to the other island,"

Eve walked into the drop up to the wall in the middle of it. She rested her hand on one of the controls on the control panel. The craft jolted slightly as the silo on the front of the bottom wing activated and fired out a light blue haze. The gondola began to move away from the platform in the direction of the second island.

Eve walked over to the front of the gondola. She gazed out at the island far ahead of her. Maybe that was the one with Regret on it. If it was, then she, Auto and the ODST were going to have their work cut out for them because he was most likely going to be under heavy protection from troops who were most likely to fight hard and to the last man before allowing any human to get to their holy leader.

As the gondola moved further over the water towards the second island, Eve saw another gondola coming from the second island towards them.

"Is that gondola filled with Covenant?" she asked Auto.

"Most likely," Auto answered. "I'm not completely sure, though,"

"Whoa!" the two heard the ODST shout suddenly as he ran onto the front of the gondola near Eve. "Eve, look into the sky,"

Eve did so. She gasped. Although it was very far away it still looked reasonably close, probably because of It's size. It was Regret's carrier. Eve stared at it in amazement. Although she could only make out the silhouette of the front of the craft, it was still easy to identify despite being partially covered by clouds.

"Man, even from afar those Covenant ships are still huge," Auto said.

"You can say that again," Eve replied.

"Watch it!" the ODST exclaimed. "The other gondola's pulling alongside of ours,"

He was right. The other gondola was now passing the gondola Eve and the ODST were on. Then, it suddenly stopped. Eve's grip on the battle rifle tightened. The gondola probably stopped because Covenant troops wanted to board their enemy's one and kill any hostiles on board.

Sure enough, only a few seconds passed before an enormous group of enormous bugs with light green armour, skin and each wielding a plasma pistol flew off the left gondola and began firing at Eve and the ODST. Drones!

Eve and the ODST fired up at the Drones to try and kill them or kill enough to make the rest fly away. But it was really hard. Every time you fired a burst of ammo up at the creatures, they could quickly manoeuvre out of the way. It was not until after a few moments passed before Eve managed to kill a Drone by firing a round into It's head (The body fell into the water below)

Suddenly, one of the Drones dived down towards the two. Eve saw it coming and dived to the floor. The Drone flew over her. The ODST, however, was not quick enough. The Drone grabbed him and flew high into the air holding the soldier by the arm. The soldier squirmed and tried to whack the alien with his the butt of his battle rifle, but it was no use. The Drone then raised It's plasma pistol and fired a shot into the head of the ODST and threw the body over the edge of the gondola to the water below.

Eve gritted her teeth in anger. She raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at the Drone. The bullets hit the creature. The Drone screeched loudly as it fell out of sight to the water below. Eve then whipped round and fired on the other Drones. After a few minutes of fighting, they were all dead.

Eve let out a low breath. Fighting Drones was a lot harder now than it was when she first met them on Earth. Probably because they were to protect this area for Regret.

The gondola jolted again. Eve's gondola began to move away from the Covenant gondola towards the island. Eve watched as the engine silo on the Covenant gondola lit up and began to move the enormous vehicle towards the first island.

"That was a tough fight," Auto said.

"Yeah, it was," Eve replied. "Is this the island Regret's on?"

"No, the island he's on will come into view when we reached the other side of this island." Auto answered. "We'll have our work cut out for us because this is the biggest island in the entire island group…"

"And it will have the most Covenant troops," Eve said, finishing Auto's sentence.

"I'm afraid so," Auto replied.

A few minutes later, the gondola hit the surface of another platform. Eve stepped off the vehicle and scanned the new scene in front of her.

This island had much more jungle than the first. There was a row of razor sharp mountains about two hundred metres ahead on the other side of the jungle. They went in a row before stopping all of a sudden. Either they were formed like that or they were there as some kind of barrier to protect something. There was also no structure alongside the platform this time. Instead, there was a ramp that was at just the right angle for anyone to walk up or down it.

"How many Covenant do you think they'll be in the jungle?" Auto asked Eve.

"Lots," Eve replied.

Eve raised her battle rifle and ran down the ramp to the sands of the beach below. When she hit the ground, she ran on towards the jungle. As she got closer, her tense level began to rise. Neither she or Auto knew how many Covenant were in the jungle waiting for them. There could be loads or there could be only a few units. Either way, all it would take was the Covenant to find one dead body of their soldiers and the warning will go out to all their forces in the island group.

Eve pushed through a massive leaf as she walked into the jungle. All around her, the green depths of the trees could, and were most likely, be containing Covenant soldiers that were ready to ambush any human that came on this island. Then again, this was probably a main defence line before reaching Regret. Well, at least they would not have far to go before they reach the bottom of the hill.

As Eve pushed a branch out of her way, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She looked up into the trees. Suddenly, she dived to the ground. A laser flew over her head and hit a branch. Eve crawled behind a nearby tree, narrowly avoiding another laser that hit the ground just a few inches from her legs.

"That was close," Auto said as Eve got up.

"I know," Eve replied as she raised her battle rifle. "But I doubt that Jackal will be the last we see in the jungle,"

Eve peeked her head out from behind the tree trunk, only to hide back behind it again as another laser shot out from the trees and hit the ground a fee feet in front of Eve.

"Can you get it?" Auto whispered to her.

"I can see the Jackal," Eve answered. "I just need something to distract it with,"

Eve searched the floor, hoping to find something she could use to draw the Jackals' fire long enough so she could kill it. She found it. On the floor was a small branch. Eve picked it up and threw it to the right from behind the tree. Sure enough, the Jackal fired a laser at it thinking it was Eve. Big mistake. Eve quickly aimed her battle rifle out from behind the tree and fired a burst of ammo up into the trees. A loud screech filled the air and Eve saw the body of the Jackal fall from the branches to the ground below.

"Nice shot," Auto said.

"Thanks," Eve replied.

Eve ran out from behind the tree towards the mountains. As she got closer, the colour of dark grey slowly started to become visible through the trees. The mountains. Eve was just fifty metres from the mountains… now forty… thirty… twenty, almost there!

Suddenly, Eve screeched to a halt. She could hear voices up ahead. There was no doubt that they were Covenant but what type was the real question. They could be Grunts, or Jackals, or Elites. If they were either of those three suggestions, or even all three, she hoped there would not be a lot of them.

Eve was now just ten metres from the bottom of the mountains. A large gap was visible through the trees. Eve hid behind a tree and looked out at the mountain. A large metal ramp led up the side. Eve could only see a little bit of the path before it was blocked out by the trees. However, Eve could clearly see Covenant soldiers and a parked ghost. There was an Elite and three Grunts. The three Grunts were sitting cross legged on the ground near the mountain's side with their heads leaned forward near their legs. Eve knew that they were fast asleep, since she had seen this sometime earlier on the first Halo. The Elite was leaning It's back against the ghost. It had a plasma rifle in one hand and lightly throwing a small ball shaped object a few inches in the air and catching it in It's hand. Eve saw it was a dark blue colour with an orange thunderbolt going down the front of the object. A plasma grenade.

Eve raised her battle rifle to fire at the plasma grenade. It was only ten metres away, she could not miss. Then, she lowered her weapon again. She realised that if she hit the grenade, the explosion would kill the Elite but it would also wake up the Grunts and cause them to fire on her. This could also get any other Covenant forces in the area to be alerted to her presence. Eve had to find another way to get the Elite's attention and try to find a way to kill him.

"Try making some noise," Auto whispered to Eve. "That'll get the Elite over here,"

Eve nodded and grabbed a branch a few feet above her. She began to pull it, causing the leaves to emit a loud rustling noise. Sure enough, the Elite heard this and began walking over to where the noise was coming from. It was walking right into the trap. When he Elite was about five metres away, Eve stopped pulling the branch and gripped her battle rifle tighter. She needed to hit the Elite very hard over the head in order to kill it or knock it out.

The Elite stopped just a metre from the tree. It raised It's plasma rifle and scanned the scene around it. The creature was uncertain of something; it probably thought it was being watched. The Elite just shrugged and walked behind the tree trunk.

WHAM! The Elite did not even have time to breathe before the butt of Eve's battle rifle hit the creature in the head. The Elite let out a weak groan before it fell backwards onto the ground, out cold. Eve knelt down and picked up the plasma grenade and threw it behind her, creating a loud rustling was heard afterwards. She then walked out from behind the tree trunk, stepping over the knocked out Elite, and walked towards the mountain up ahead. When she came out of the trees, she crept over to the path so she did wake the sleeping Grunts.

When Eve reached the path, she ran up the metal surface. At the top of the path was a wide gap. As Eve got closer to the top, a figure walked out from the left. It was a Jackal carrying an activated shield. Before the Jackal could spot her, Eve raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo up at the alien. The Jackal let out a loud screech as the bullets tore through It's chest and fell to the ground, dead.

After a few moments, Eve finally reached the top of the path. She gasped. In front of her was a large lake about half a mile to three quarters of a mile long and wide. The enormous razor sharp mountains rose up around the lake, making it look like a bowl. There was a small pathway that ran around the entire bowl along the mountains. Alongside the pathway in front of Eve was a circular shaped platform. Eve walked forward towards then edge of the pathway and looked down over the platform. Below was a small circular hole that went down into the rock and was about twenty feet from the lake.

Eve stepped onto the platform. She jolted slightly as the device began to descend down towards the hole.

"Where do you think this hole leads to?" Eve asked Auto.

"Probably some kind of short cut underneath the river," Auto answered. "I don't know. Maybe the Covenant might have something down here,"

"If they do, then we'll find out what," Eve replied.

Just as Eve finished speaking, she was completely surrounded by darkness. They were in the tunnel. Eve looked up to see the hole to the outside world slowly shrink as if she and Auto were being taken away from the surface forever. Then, the tunnel lit up but with no lights, probably because the wall had the ability to light and darken the tunnel when the platform entered it.

Eve looked over the side of the platform. At the bottom, about twenty feet away, was a large cube shaped room with dark blue walls. It had a small circular hole in the floor near the middle of the room. As the platform reached the hole, a locking sound kept it in place, Eve stepped off the platform. On the wall ahead of her was a small door. Eve walked towards the door, raising her battle rifle. The Covenant were most likely to be in this short cut under the lake so Eve was ready to fight them when she came across them.

The door opened as Eve approached it. Eve walked through the doorway into a long half cylindrical shaped corridor with gold bars along the corners of the room and there was a wide gold bar going along the ceiling. There were windows instead of walls along the side and floor of the corridor. They showed the clear blue water of the lake. It was really beautiful. However, when Eve looked down the corridor towards the other end, where there was another doorway, Eve saw four Covenant Grunts asleep along the side of the corridor. An Elite was patrolling the corridor. At the moment the creature was in the middle of the corridor walking towards the other doorway so Eve had a chance to kill the Elite before it turned and saw her.

Eve ran down the corridor towards the Elite. When she was three feet from the creature, she dived towards it and pushed the Elite to the floor. The Elite let out a loud roar of pain, waking the Grunts. Eve quickly whacked her battle rifle over the Elite's head. The blow instantly killed it. Eve then turned and fired four bursts of ammo at the Grunts, killing them.

Eve stood up and ran towards the other door. It opened as she approached it. Eve ran through into a large square shaped room with walkways, about fifteen feet from the floor, going along both walls. Several pillars, coming up from the floor to the ceiling, went along the walkways. In the middle of the room was a large cube shaped object with a small doorway on the front of it. Two small walkways came out of the top of the cube and joined onto the other two walkways.

Eve raised her battle rifle and walked into the room. It was obvious that Covenant were going to be in here, but what type was the question.

Eve got her answer when, all of a sudden, a group of Drones flew out from behind the cube and fired a barrage of blasts at her. Eve's shield lit up and her holographic meter appeared, the level in the yellow zone and dropping fast. Eve panicked and ran towards the cube as fast as she could. The blasts flew all around her as the Drones attempted to kill the most hated out of their human enemy.

Eve dived the last few feet into the cube. She shot up and rested her back against a wall, breathing heavily. That was close. If she had been out there for just a few more seconds, she would have been killed. The room had a large ramp against the back wall with two more coming out of either side and going up to two doorways on the walls near the ceiling. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level was rising back up from the red zone to the top. Eve just now had to find out how to get to the other end of the room without getting killed.

Suddenly, a large green shaped flew through the doorway into the room. A Drone. In an instant, Eve raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo up at the alien. The creature let out an ear piercing screech as it was hit and fell to the floor, dead. Another two flew in, only to be met by the same fate. Eve checked her battle rifle and saw it was out of ammo. She threw the weapon on the floor and grabbed one of the plasma pistols, dropped by one of the Drones, on the floor. She then quickly retreated back to her hiding position next to the doorway and waited for the next Drone.

A few seconds passed. Nothing happened. Where were the Drones? Were they preparing an ambush or have they fled? Eve crept up to the door and peeked her head out from behind the wall. Her eyes scanned the room. They were gone. Why had they just fled all of a sudden?

Eve shook that thought out of her head and ran up the ramp and turned left up the next ramp. The door at the top opened as she approached it. Eve ran onto the walkway and turned right. Ahead of her was a large bronze coloured wall with a small cube shaped section against it on a large rectangular object coming up from the floor. Both walkways led to the cube section. Eve ran down the walkway to the cube section where another door was. It opened as she approached it, leading her into a small square shaped room with a door on the back wall. Eve ran into the room and up to this door. When it opened, Eve gasped.

This room, a circular shape, was more like the insides of an ancient Maya temple. It had a pathway along the walls, a small ramp descended off from the back of the room to the ground. Four pillars, in a square formation in the middle of the room, went up from the floor to the ceiling. Many of parts of the room were even covered in plant growth so it did really look like the room had just come out of a jungle despite being quite far underneath the lake.

Then, Eve's eyes rested on another cylindrical panel in the middle of the room at the bottom of the ramp. Above it was another hologram of Regret. Again, he was chanting some kind of sermon.

"Watch out, Eve!" Auto shouted.

Eve dived to the floor, narrowly missing an energy sword that hit the wall behind her. Eve looked up at her attacker to see it was an Elite. However, this Elite was not a major or minor or a stealth. This Elite was covered with dark purple armour and a crown on their heads.

Eve swung her legs along the floor and hit the Elite, causing it to fly through the air and land painfully on It's face on the floor. She then scrambled to her feet and jumped off of the pathway to the floor. A loud growl made her turn to see the Elite wielding It's energy sword, a menacing look on It's face. Eve gulped. This was not good.

"What kind of Elites are these?" She asked.

"Honour Guards," Auto answered. "No doubt, the worst rank in the Elite part of the Covenant."

The honour guard Elite jumped down from the pathway and swung It's sword at Eve. Luckily, she ducked and whacked the Elite across the back with her plasma pistol. The Elite roared in pain before collapsing to the floor, dead, the impact having broken It's back.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. The honour guard was easily taken care of, though she had almost lost her head. If these were new things to the Elites, then they were not very good.

That thought was quickly put out of her mind when Eve suddenly flew to the floor, her back burning with pain. Eve, wincing still from the pain, looked over her shoulder to see another honour guard Elite standing over her. However, this one was carrying a plasma rifle instead of an energy sword. The Elite growled

"You will pay for what you have done, demon!" it said to her. "You destroying the Sacred Ring will have serious consequences for you and your incompetent race!"

The Elite raised It's plasma rifle. All the creature had to do was pull the trigger and his enemy would be gone.

However, Eve was too quick. In the blink of an eye, she swung her leg across the floor and hit the Elite's leg. The Elite roared as it fell to the floor and landed painfully on It's face. A small muffled groan emitted from the creature. Eve saw her chance and grabbed the plasma rifle, which the Elite had dropped on the floor, and brought it down hard on the creature's head. The impact killed the Elite outright.

"Nice work, Eve," Auto said as she stood up.

"Thanks," Eve replied. "Now let's go on and get off this island."

Eve went to walk up the ramp, but Auto stopped her.

"Wait! Go back,"

Eve stopped next to the hologram. She turned to face the hologram of Regret.

"Upload me into the panel," Auto said.

Eve squeezed her shoulder and waited. A second later, the data cord rose up from her suit and lay there on her shoulder. Eve took it between her two fingers and placed it in a slot in the side of a panel. Auto's seven inch high avatar shot up from the panel a few inches in front of Regret's hologram.

"That's what I thought he said," Auto said. "He's planning to activate Halo,"

"Are you sure?" Eve asked him.

Auto snapped his fingers. Regret's sermon went from… well whatever language it was speaking in to English.

_"I shall light this Holy Ring,"_ the hologram of the prophet said. _"I will release It's cleansing flame and burn a path into the divine beyond!" _

Auto snapped his fingers again and Regret's hologram went back into chanting the sermon in the language it began with.

"Pretty much," Auto said, smugly.

"We better let the commander know," Eve replied.

_"No need,"_ Mary's voice erupted out of Eve's ear radio. _"I heard everything. I've gone over the data you gave me about the first ring and from what I've got here, the prophet needs an object called the Index to activate the ring. I've located the library similar to the one on the first Halo ring. If the ring works in the same way, then the Index should be inside."_

_"I'll bet the Covenant are thinking the exact same thing,"_ John's voice said.

_"Then we better make a start to the library before they do,"_ Mary said. _"Eve, Auto. Should we pick you up?"_

"No," Eve replied. "I've got one more thing to do and it involves the prophet,"

_"Alright, contact us when your done,"_ Mary said and Eve's ear radio went silent.

"Are you going to kill the prophet?" Auto asked her.

"I may have to," Eve answered. "But I have a feeling he knows something about that crystal we found in Central America on Earth and we need to know what it is,"

Eve took Auto's data cord out of the panel. His avatar instantly disappeared. Eve placed the data cord on her shoulder and it sank into her suit like quicksand.

Eve ran up the ramp to the pathway at the top. She then ran right down the pathway to a door on the wall opposite the one she entered the room through. It opened as she approached it. Eve ran through the doorway.

Eve found herself in a large square shaped room with a long two foot high cube shaped part of the floor in the middle of the room. Four large pillars were in the corners of the room going up from the floor to the middle of the cube section of the floor was an eight foot long and six foot wide hole that led down to a thirty foot long tunnel to a pool.

Eve raised her plasma pistol and scanned the room. It was clear, for the moment at least. Eve walked into the room. She climbed onto the cube section of the floor and walked towards the hole in the middle of the floor. When she reached it, Eve gazed down at the pool below. A large object was at the bottom of the tunnel.

"What is that?" Eve asked.

"I don't know," Auto replied. "But if we want to find out we have to get it up here,"

The sound of something unlocking suddenly shot up the tunnel. A whirring sound followed. Eve, who looked around the entire room thinking it was something near her, looked back down the tunnel to see the object rising towards her. As it came closer, she could see it was a cube-like object with gold connections going around the sides, top and bottom of it. Three windows were on the object, two on the sides and one on the back.

"Must be an elevator," Auto said as the object was about half-way up the tunnel.

Eve was about to reply when her shield lit up all of a sudden. Eve shot round to see a group of Drones in the room with her. Well at least they knew where the rest of the Drone squad she fought earlier were now.

Eve raised her plasma pistol and fired a the Drones. They were easier to hit this time because they were in a smaller room. One blast hit a Drone right in the face and the creature fell to the floor, dead. Another was hit by two blasts, one from Eve and another from a Drone behind him, and also killed.

A locking sound quickly drew Eve's attention, still firing up at the Drones, she looked over her shoulder to see the elevator parked up over the hole. A glass door opened up at the front. Eve ran inside the elevator, narrowly avoiding a set of blasts. The Drones fired continually at the elevator's windows in an attempt to break them. Eve frantically scanned the elevator. At the back of the elevators inside was a small white circle. Eve ran to the back and placed a hand on the circle. It glowed white.

A loud screech drew Eve's attention to the front of the elevator. A Drone had landed on the floor and was trying to get into the elevator. Eve held her finger down on the plasma pistol's trigger. A green blast ball began to grow on the end of the weapon. After a few seconds, Eve raised the plasma pistol and fired the blast.

An ear piercing screech filled the room as one of the Drones was hit by the blast. It was so powerful that not only did it throw the creature into the wall of the room but it also fizzed away through It's armour.

Before another Drone could get into the elevator, the door closed and the vehicle moved back down the tunnel towards the water. Eve breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close," she said.

"Yes, it was," Auto replied. "Now let's hope this thing takes us away from this island,"

The elevator suddenly stopped a few feet above the water. Was it broken or had it jammed? Then, the vehicle fell into the water, creating a loud splash, and began to move through the lake on It's own. There were no engines so it must have been programmed to follow the same route.

Eve gazed in awe at the sight in the lake around the craft. There were many rocks and undersea plats scattered across the lake bed. What was really amazing was that Eve saw fish swimming about in the lake. And what's more, they were Earth sea life. She could have identified them but the elevator's glass made it quite dark to see what was outside the craft.

"Hey Eve," Auto said, drawing her out of her gazing. "I've just intercepted a transmission from High Charity to Regret's carrier. It's a very well encrypted message from another prophet called Truth. Listen to this, Eve."

Auto cleared his throat, just like many people do when they read speeches, and began to read the message.

**"Your haste has jeopardized the fulfilment of our Covenant, threatened our grand design. That you shall be spared a public display of our contempt is thanks only to Mercy and his wise counsel."**

Eve took in what Auto had just explained to her.

"So there are three prophets called Truth, Mercy and Regret," she said.

"That's right," Auto replied. "When we get to the pyramid structure Regret is in, if you kill, only if you have to, then it could shake up the Covenant a bit. However, in a way, you might be doing Truth a favour."

The two suddenly found themselves in a dark cavern. The elevator went on and on through the water.

"Where does this cavern lead to?" Eve asked Auto.

"Tracking," Auto replied. "It leads out of the island to the ocean. And if I've interpreted the route correctly, we should go straight to a third island which is the nearest to the main temple."

The darkness suddenly left the elevator and replaced it with a light blue light. They were no in the ocean. Eve gazed out of the elevator's windows again to admire the beauty of this underwater world. Again, she saw many fish going about their daily business in the water as they would do on Earth.

Then, the elevator began to rise through the water towards the surface. Eve felt the elevator go up and saw a faint yellow light through the craft's ceiling. However, as the elevator got closer to the surface of the water, she saw a large square shaped hole in the water at the bottom of a tunnel. The elevator rose up to the tunnel and stopped directly underneath it.

"Is that it?" Auto asked.

He got his answer when the elevator rose up out of the water into the tunnel. Eve looked up through the ceiling to see another hole the size of the elevator about thirty feet up.

When the elevator rose up through the hole and stopped, Eve found herself in another small square shaped room, only this time there were no pillars in the corners of the room and the hole was built into the floor, not a cube shaped section that had risen up from the floor. A small door was on the wall right of the elevator.

The elevator doors opened and Eve stepped out into the room. She ran over to the doorway, causing it to open. On the other side of the doorway was a long corridor with a dark blue floor and a long window along the left side. The right side of the corridor was a dark blue wall. Eve ran into the corridor. She gazed through the window to see what was on the other side.

On the other side of the long window was the ground, about thirty feet below, of the third island Auto said they were to be on. Several platforms were lined up along the coast, all facing in different directions. At one of the platforms, the nearest to Eve, was a parked gondola. Maybe it lead to the pyramid structure. If it did, then Eve had to get there quickly. Eve ran back down the corridor towards another door at the end. It opened as she approached it. Eve found herself in a small cylindrical; shaped room that had a flat surface about ten feet above her. On the wall the wall next to her was a holographic control panel. Eve rested a hand on the panel.

She suddenly jolted as the floor seemed to break away from the walls. It then descended down into a long tunnel. Eve looked up and saw the top grow smaller as she went further and further away from it. Hopefully, this elevator would go to the ground floor so Eve could get across to the pyramid structure.

Suddenly, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

_"Eve, Auto?"_ came Mary's voice. _"Can you hear me?"_

_"We hear you, commander,"_ Auto replied through his com.

_"Good, how's it going you two?" _Mary asked.

_"We're on an island that is the closest to the pyramid structure," _Auto answered. _"Once we get on a gondola, we should be able to get over there,"_

_"Understood,"_ Mary replied. _"We're on our way to the Library now. It's really dark here. Anyway, good luck. McCrea out,"_

Eve's ear radio went silent.

Just as second later, the elevator jolted again. This time, it was next to another door. A locking sound echoed up the tunnel, most likely the elevator locking itself into place. The doorway opened to reveal the outside world to Eve and Auto again. Eve ran through the doorway onto the dirt surface of the island.

"Aright, we're almost there," Eve said in a relieved tone.

"Let's get over to the pyramid structure and have a little talk with the prophet," Auto replied.

Eve nodded and ran over to the platform with the parked gondola. A small ramp led up from the ground to the platform's surface. Eve ran up the ramp to the top and onto the gondola. She rested a hand on the control panel. The front engine activated. The gondola began to move and within a few seconds was far from the third island heading across the water.

"Eve, look ahead!" Auto exclaimed.

Eve did so. She gasped. Ahead of them was a small island with an enormous structure on it. It had six large stone legs come off both sides, with another three on the back of the building, of the diamond shaped main part of the structure that carried on behind the front for about another hundred feet. One walkway ran around the structure, starting from a large platform outside the diamond shaped entrance and going down the right side of the structure, then going around the back before going the left side and connecting with the platform again. A small ramp led up to the diamond shaped entrance from the platform.

_"Commander?"_ Auto said through his com. _"We're approaching the main temple now,"_

_"Good work,"_ came Mary's voice. _"We're at the library but we're as close as we can get for the moment. There's some kind of barrier. We're going to try and find a way around it," _

_"Roger that,"_ Auto replied. _"We'll contact you later when we're done," _

As the gondola approached the temple, Eve could see figures moving about on the platform near some kind of turrets. When they were about one hundred feet from the temple, she saw they were Covenant with shade turrets. Eve hid behind the wall, ready to take on any Covenant that boarded the vehicle.

A locking sound echoed throughout the air as the gondola attached itself to the front of the platform. Eve quickly poked her head out from behind the wall to see several Covenant soldiers coming over to investigate.

"Are we expecting anymore reinforcements?" a minor Elite asked.

"No," a major Elite replied. "This must be some kind of trick. Search the craft! Report anything suspicious!"

Two minor Elites and a few Grunts walked onto the gondola, their weapons raised ready to take on any intruders. Eve heard their footfalls slowly grow louder. She tightened her grip on the plasma pistol in her hands.

"Me have bad feeling!" a Grunt squeaked.

"Be quiet and continue searching!" an Elite growled.

Suddenly, three Grunts and the two Elites walked past Eve. They did not even notice her. Perfect. Eve raised her plasma pistol. However, she stopped all of a sudden. Instead of wasting her ammo, she had a better way of getting rid of them. Eve rested her hand on the control panel and ran as fast as she could off the gondola. Her boots pounding on the metal attracted the attention of the Covenant squad on the gondola. They fired a barrage of blasts at her. Thankfully, Eve managed to dodge them. The Covenant soldiers charged after her, only to realise, too late, that the gondola was floating away from the temple.

"NOOOOO!" one of the minor Elites yelled. "We will get you demon!"

"Yeah but you'll have to get back over here first, split lip!" Eve yelled back.

The Covenant soldiers only continued shouting and cursing at Eve but within a few seconds they were out of sight as the gondola moved further away from the island. Auto laughed.

"Nice one, Eve," he said.

"Thanks," Eve replied. "Now let's get inside and find Regret."

Eve turned and ran towards the ramp that led up to the entrance into the building. However, when she was about five feet from the ramp, she screeched to a halt and looked up into the sky.

"What is it?" Auto asked her.

"I just saw something big," Eve replied.

Suddenly, a large shape appeared in the sky. It looked like a head with a mechanical spinal cord sticking out of it. Then, faint popping sounds, though they were loud enough to hear, filled the air. Just a second later, an enormous swarm of Covenant ships appeared. Both assault carriers and CCS battle cruisers. There were hundreds, no thousands of them!

"That…is the biggest Covenant fleet I've ever seen!" Auto said, breath taken.

"It's the largest anyone's ever seen," Eve replied.

"Get inside and take care of Regret quickly before the fleet stops us!" Auto ordered.

Eve nodded and ran up the ramp into the building. A large wall was placed in her path, though there were two gaps at It's ends. Eve ran left around the wall. Ahead of her was a large blast door. Eve ran over to it, causing it to open.

Eve was revealed with a large rectangular shaped room with a small pathway in front of her and a ramp leading down to the floor. Both sides of the pathway went along both walls as walkways. Several large stone pillars went along both sides of the room. At the other end was a large fountain with a small waterfall coming out of an opening on the wall.

It was then Eve saw a large metallic hover chair in front of the fountain. Two arms suddenly came out of the side of it before going back in. A chanting of the strange language filed the room.

It was Regret.

As Eve stepped forward into the room, the doorway closed, creating a small boom. Regret heard the noise and turned his hover chair round.

"You!" he shouted. "The demon is here!"

At once, a loud uproar filled the room. Just a second later, two honour guard Elites jumped up from the sides of the ramp onto the pathway either side of Eve.

"I guess he's not in a talking mood," Auto said.

"You think!" Eve replied sarcastically.

Suddenly, an energy sword flew through the air. It's target; Eve. Eve dived forward down the ramp. The other honour guard jumped into the air and raised It's energy sword. However, Eve saw the attack and fired a few shots from her plasma pistol up at the Elite. The blasts quickly broke through the creature's shield and a final hit to the head killed it. The body fell to the floor and the energy sword landed at Eve's feet.

The other honour guard growled. It now wanted to kill Eve more than ever to avenge It's fallen comrade. But the Elite was not the only one growing furious. As soon as the first honour guard Elite was killed, Regret pounded a fist on his hover chair.

"You useless fools!" he shouted. "You cannot even kill a simple Human!"

The other honour guard charged down the ramp towards Eve. It raised It's energy sword and brought it down. Luckily, Eve dived sideways, narrowly missing the weapon. She quickly grabbed the energy sword that lay on the floor and swung the weapon into the Elite's leg. Purple blood poured out from the wound. The Elite roared in pain and fell to the ramp's floor. Eve then swung the weapon into the air and brought it down into the Elite's chest, killing it.

"INCOMPETENTS!" Regret yelled, drawing Eve's attention. "I will kill her myself!"

At once, a large gold light ball began to form on the front of Regret's hover chair. Suddenly, it shot towards Eve like a laser. Eve dived off the side of the ramp, only to land painfully on her arm. Eve groaned as she got up. Regret saw this and laughed.

"This is the humans' greatest warrior?" he said, cackling. "How pathetic."

At once another ball formed up on the front of Regret's hover chair and fired out towards Eve, who dived forward and only just missed the laser. Eve shot up from the floor and fired a blast from her plasma pistol at Regret. However, when it was about two feet from the prophet, the blast hit some kind of shield and disappeared. Regret laughed again.

"Your attempts will be foiled by my hover chair's shield, demon!" he shouted at Eve. "Guards, remove this vermin from my sight!"

At once, a barrage of blasts flew at Eve from above. She looked up to see three Grunts on the ramp firing down at her. Then, Eve saw the crown of an honour guard Elite run past the Grunts and jumped down onto the floor in front of Eve. The Elite growled and bared It's mandibles as well as It's energy sword.

"Time to meet your fate, demon!" the Elite growled.

The Elite swung the energy sword at Eve. However, she ducked and the sword hit the wall and got stuck. Seeing her chance, Eve brought her energy sword up and drove it deep into the Elite's chest. Blood poured from the wound. The Elite let out a weak breath before it fell to the floor, dead.

"SHE GOT LEADER!" one of the Grunts screamed. "RUN AWAY!"

The Grunts turned and fled up the ramp towards the room's entrance.

"FOOLS!" Regret yelled. "YOU DARE LEAVE YOUR PROPHET? YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO SERVE IN THE COVENANT! I HOPE YOU ARE PUNISHED-"

Regret was suddenly cut off when he saw Eve charging towards him. In an instant, he activated another charged laser and fired it at Eve, who dived sideways and ran behind a pillar.

"What's the matter, demon?" Regret asked in a taunting manner. "Am I too powerful for you?"

Eve gritted her teeth in anger. Her weapons began to shake in her hands. Although she was not usually angered by this type of taunts, Regret was really starting to get to her.

"The Great Journey will not be postponed!" Regret shouted. "Even by you, demon!"

BOOM! A laser hit the pillar, causing it to collapse. A cloud of dust was thrown into the air. Regret moved his hover chair forward a few feet. He chuckled slightly. He had most likely killed the demon and was going to be remembered in the Covenant for doing so. Now he wanted to see his fallen enemy.

When the dust cloud cleared, Regret gasped. Eve was not there. The rubble was only a few centimetres high so she would not be fully covered by it. Regret gritted his teeth in anger.

"Where are you, demon?" he shouted, pounding the sides of his arm chairs with his fists.

He got his answer when someone jumped onto the side of his chair. It was Eve. She raised her energy sword, only to be met by a flick of Regret's arm on her legs. Eve fell forward into the chair, dropping her weapons at Regret's feet. Regret grabbed Eve's hair and pulled, causing her to scream out in pain. Eve clenched her fist and threw a punch at Regret, hitting him in the head. Regret screamed in pain and released his grip on her hair. Eve saw her chance and lunged herself onto Regret. She grabbed beard with one hand whilst she pushed his head down with the other.

"G… Get… off me!" Regret shouted.

Regret grabbed Eve's throat and began to choke her. Eve raised her foot and brought it down on one of Regret's legs. The impact broke Regret's leg, causing him to scream in pain. His other leg came out of where they were sitting. Big mistake.

The hover chair suddenly swayed in mid-air and flew front first straight towards the fountain at the back of the room. Eve and Regret saw this but before they could react…

CRASH! The hover chair crashed right into the wall of the fountain, breaking it in two. Regret and Eve were lucky enough to fall out of the chair, along with the two weapons, before it hit the wall. Eve was in the middle of the fountain. Regret was at the right end.

Eve groaned as she got up. Her vision was blurry for a few seconds. She rubbed her eyes. That worked. Her vision was back to normal.

Suddenly, an electrical noise from behind startled Eve. She shot round to see Regret standing on both his legs, though she could see his broken one wobbling. However, in his hand was the energy sword.

"Your time has come, demon!" he shouted

Regret brought the energy sword back over his shoulder. He was going to throw it at Eve. Eve dived to the water covered floor of the fountain and grabbed the plasma pistol. She quickly rose up just as Regret was about to throw his energy sword.

A scream filled the room. Regret stood where he was. His empty hand dropped to his side. Lying in the water in front of him was Eve. The water around her began to turn red. All of a sudden, Regret fell backwards into the water, creating a loud splash. The water around him quickly turned red.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief. She had fired a few blasts at Regret just as he threw the energy sword. Eve counted herself lucky. The energy sword did hit her but, luckily, only creating a small tear in Eve's bodysuit and slightly cutting her arm open.

"That was close," Auto said.

"I can't believe I've just killed a prophet," Eve replied, whispering.

"Uh oh!" Auto said. "Eve, we have to go now!"

"Why?" Eve asked Auto.

"The Covenant fleet has an assault carrier directly over the island!" Auto replied. "It's preparing to fire on our position,"

Eve turned and jumped out of the phantom and ran down the room towards the ramp at the other end of the room. She almost fell over a few times because she was soaking wet from the water in the fountain. Eve ran up the ramp towards the door, causing it to open. She ran out of the room round the wall and out of the building onto the ramp that led down to the platform. Eve gasped.

Hovering high above the structure was a Covenant assault carrier. Eve gazed in awe and shock at the thousands of small lights and the enormous circle that led to pitch blackness on the bottom of the ship.

Suddenly, a purple light began to charge up in the hole. No sooner than a second passed before a wide purple beam shot down from the ship to the ground. Eve knew what this was and jumped off the left side of the ramp onto the platform. She ran across the platform and turned onto the pathway that ran along the side of the structure.

"I don't know how we're going to get out of this one!" Auto said to Eve.

"Can't you call for help?" Eve asked Auto, half-shouting.

"The pelicans are most likely to be with the _Amber Clad_ at the library," Auto answered. "I doubt they'll send one over here,"

_"Don't worry guys,"_ a voice suddenly said out of Eve's ear radio. _"Echo 219 will be your chariot to safety,"_

A large shape hovered alongside the pathway. It was a pelican. A smile came upon Eve's face. She and Auto were going to be evacuated off the structure! The pelican flew to the end of the pathway and hovered down near it. Eve ran faster towards the pelican. She wanted to get off this structure quickly before she and Auto were killed by the Covenant's glassing beam. She was just twenty metres from the pelican. She was going to make it!

BOOM! An explosion erupted from the top of the structure. Eve looked up to see large chunks of stone and metal rubble falling from the roof towards the pathway and the sea. A large chunk of stone fell towards the pelican.

_"CRAP!"_ the pilot shouted, his voice coming out of Eve's ear radio. The craft flew forward away from the pathway. _"Eve, I'll have to pick you up in the water,"_

Eve was about to reply when…

CLANG! A large lightning bolt-like pieced of metal landed at the end of the pathway and got stuck in the stone. Eve screeched to a halt. She looked over her shoulder to see the enormous purple beam only fifty feet away. The rest of the structure inside the beam was now a pile of rubble or was collapsing.

"Eve, I know what your thinking," Auto said. "It's cra-AAHH!"

Eve jumped up in the air and struck the top of the metal piece with her feet. The metal piece flew up into the air. Eve kicked it again, causing the metal piece to go flat. She then stood on top of it and pushed down so she was now riding it like a surfboard. The metal piece went down over the edge, only to scrape along the side of a leg going diagonally away from the structure into the sea. Eve rode the metal piece down the side of the leg towards the sea.

The pelican hovered down from the air towards the water until it was about twenty feet above the surface of it. Eve quickly got closer to the craft. Behind her, the beam continued to tear up the structure like a wildfire going through a forest. When she was about ten feet from the pelican she stuck her foot against the front of the metal piece, driving it into the stone and sticking the back of it into the air. Eve flew through the air. Amazingly, she landed on her feet in the pelican's resting area.

_"Alright, I'm pulling away,"_ the pilot said.

The pelican flew away from the structure, narrowly missing the Covenant's glassing beam as it tore through the last of the structure. Eve watched as the remains crumbled and fell into the sea.

"That was close," she said.

"Eve!" Auto said sternly. "If you ever do that again… I will kill you!"

"Very scary, Auto," Eve replied sarcastically.

_"Alright guys,"_ came the pilot's voice from Eve's ear radio. _"You might as well rest. We're going to join the commander at the library."_


	13. Changing of the Guard

**One hour later**

**Location: Sanctum of the Hierarchs, Covenant Holy City, High Charity.**

It had been one hour since High Charity arrived at Delta Halo. However, in that one hour the Covenant had received news that they never thought they would happen. They heard that Regret, one of the holy prophets and leaders of the Covenant had been killed by the human the Covenant hated the most. The demon or, as the humans called her, Eve.

When the news of Regret came to High Charity, it spread like a plague through the Covenant. Many Covenant troops fell into disarray and even thought about leaving the Covenant in fear of being next on the demon's hit list. However, Truth gave a speech, about half an hour ago, stating that Regret's death was a terrible loss and he was a worthy member to the Covenant. However, he also stated that the Covenant should replace their fear and grieve with anger and a desire for revenge and even promised to have the demon killed and, if they could, her body brought back to High Charity for burning.

The Arbiter walked down the violet coloured corridor towards a large diamond shaped door. He was heading to the Sanctum of the Hierarchs to talk with the prophets after they had summoned him there.

As the Arbiter approached the diamond shaped door, he looked over his shoulder to notice there were several Brutes following him. His first thought was they might imprison him again so he clenched his fists ready for a fight in case that was what they were going to do. However, he soon realised why they were following him.

Usually along the corridors leading to sacred places of High Charity, like the Mausoleum of the Arbiter for example, there were honour guard Elites standing guard with their staves ready. As we know, they specially tasked with defending the prophets to the death. But today was different.

As the Arbiter walked on towards the diamond shaped door, he glanced his head to the side of the pathway, where the honour guard Elites would stand guard, to see a Brute grab an honour guard Elite's stave. The Elite did not let go so the Brute pulled again and this time managed to thrust the stave out of the Elite's hand. Another Brute walked path the two towards the honour guard standing a few feet up. The honour guard Elite knew what was coming and took off his crown. He gazed sadly at it, as if he was forced to give something very precious to him up, before handing it to the Brute.

As the Arbiter was just a few metres from the door, he turned to see a Brute now dressed in the honour guard armour. Chunks of brown fur stuck out between the armour's gaps. The Brute looked like some overstuffed toy. The Brute examined It's new stave by poking a finger at the point to feel how sharp it was. The Arbiter then passed two Brutes who were fighting each other for a crown. One had the crown but another had come over and wanted to take it. The Brute holding the crown then threw a punch at the Brute who was trying to take his crown, throwing the creature to the floor. The Brute then triumphantly placed the crown on It's head as if he had been crowned a king.

The diamond shaped door opened as the Arbiter approached it, revealing a large room that was in the shape of a dome and a violet colour. A large pillar went through a hole in the middle of the floor. At the other end of the room was a large window which showed space with It's trillions of stars in all their beauty. However, a large object was blocking most of the view from the window. It was a grey silvery surface on the outside and an Earth-like landscape on the inside. It was Delta Halo.

"This is unprecedented," a voice said. "Unacceptable."

The Arbiter turned his head towards the window to see Vadumee with a minor Elite standing either side of him. In front of him were Truth and Mercy sitting in their hover chairs.

"A hierarch is dead, commander," Truth said.

"His murderer was within our grasp," Vadumee replied. "If you had not withdrawn our phantoms-"

"Are you questioning my decision?" Truth asked, cutting Vadumee off mid-sentence.

"No, Holy One." Vadumee answered. "I just only wish to express my concern that the Brutes-"

"Re-commissioning the guard was a radical step," Truth said, raising a hand to silence Vadumee. "I myself have found it a hard thing to do and so has dear Mercy here. But recent events have made it abundantly clear that the Elites can no longer guarantee our safety."

"I shall relay your… decision to the Council," Vadumee replied in a low voice.

Vadumee and the Elites turned and walked towards the door. As they passed the Arbiter, Vadumee nodded at him, who also replied with a nod. The diamond shaped door opened and the three Elites walked out, leaving Truth, Mercy and the Arbiter in the room alone. The Arbiter walked over to the prophets.

"Politics," Truth said, heaving a small sigh. "How tiresome."

Truth looked towards the Arbiter, as if finally noticing he was there.

"Do you know, Arbiter, that the Elites have threatened to resign?" Truth asked the Arbiter. "To quit the Council? Because of this, oh how should I put it… exchange of hats?"

"We have always been your protectors." the Arbiter replied.

"Well, these are trying times, for us all," Truth said.

"Even if the humans' annihilation filled us with satisfaction, the loss of one of the Sacred Rings wracked our hearts with grief!" Mercy exclaimed.

"Putting aside our sorrow for the destruction of the Holy Ring, we renewed our faith in the prophecy that the other rings would be found." Truth said. "And see how our faith has been rewarded."

The two prophets turned to look at Delta Halo. Mercy opened his arms as if he were embracing the ring itself.

"_Halo_!" he exclaimed. "It's divine wind will rush through the stars, propelling all who are worthy along the path to salvation!"

"But how do we start this process?" Truth asked himself, stroking his beard. "That is the question. For ages we searched for one who might unlock the secrets of the ring. An Oracle. And with your help, Arbiter, we found it,"

Truth pressed a small button the side of his armchair. Two large circular holes opened up in the room near the pillar. One on the floor and one on the ceiling. A large circular base panel came out of both holes. A light blue haze quickly began to form between them. Then, a figure began to form. After a few seconds, the three saw it was Wally. He was still knocked out from where Tartarus had struck him over the head on the gas mine in Threshold's atmosphere.

Truth and Mercy hovered over to the panels; the Arbiter followed.

"With appropriate humility, we piled the Oracle with questions," Mercy explained. "However, we did not receive the answers we were expecting. But he, with clarity and grace, has shown us… the key,"

A hologram of an object appeared next to Wally. It was in the shape of a capitol T and had a thin light green line going down the front and back of the object.

"You, along with Oracle, will journey to the surface of the ring and retrieve this Sacred Icon," Truth said to the Arbiter. "With it, we shall fulfil our promise to the Covenant,"

"Salvation for us all!" Mercy exclaimed.

"And we shall soon begin the Great Journey," Truth concluded.


	14. Sacred Icon

**One hour later**

_High Charity_. The Covenant holy city. In front of it were the thousands upon thousands of ships, both assault carriers and CCS battle cruisers, that made up the mighty Covenant fleet. When High Charity had arrived at _Delta Halo_, the entire Covenant fleet came as well. The Covenant were overjoyed to find that they had discovered a new Sacred Ring. Now they could begin the Great Journey.

Several hundred miles above _Delta Halo's_ inner surface, a shape flew towards the ring. It was a phantom. On board was the Arbiter, Tartarus, a squad of Brutes instead of Elites and Wally.

**Inside the phantom**

The Arbiter was standing in the phantom's main room, holding a carbine. Two rows of Brutes were lined up against both walls. Wally was standing next to the Arbiter with a blank look on his face. But inside, he was nervous. He was afraid that the Arbiter or the Brutes were going to suddenly turn on him. Wally let out his whistle. It echoed throughout the ship. A Brute standing next to the Arbiter growled slightly, which promptly silenced Wally.

"Once the shield is down, we shall head straight for the library." came Tartarus' voice from the phantom's cog pit. "I do not wish to keep the hierarchs waiting,"

"The human that killed the prophet of Regret. Who was it?" the Arbiter asked.

_"Who do you think."_ Tartarus replied.

"The demon is here?" the Arbiter exclaimed, surprised.

Tartarus let out an affirmative snort.

_"Why?"_ Tartarus asked. _"Looking for a little payback?"_

The Arbiter raised his carbine and began clutching it tighter as if he was trying to break it.

"Retrieving the icon is my only concern," he said, though it was obvious that there was a sense of revenge within him.

Tartarus let out a sceptical laugh.

_"Of course,"_ he said, realising that there was more to the Arbiter than retrieving the Sacred Icon.

The phantom flew into the clouds of Delta Halo's surface. They were a dark grey/black colour. Within a few seconds, the craft was over a large wasteland area. It had a large structure so big that it rose over a small mountain in front of it. The structure had a large square based bottom section with four enormous robotic panels shaped like fingers sticking diagonally out of the square base section of the structure before going diagonally back in so they were almost touching each other in mid-air. For miles in all directions in front of the structure were many hills, large holes and structures. What the phantom was flying towards was an enormous wall that must have been well over two thousand feet tall and probably just over half as wide. Above the enormous wall was a light blue haze that made a dome-like shape from the wall to the structure in the background. It must be some kind of shield built to protect this area from any invaders.

The phantom flew towards a small platform in the wall. It hovered over the platform. The large circular hole on the bottom of the craft opened up. The Arbiter and Wally floated down from inside the phantom to the platform. They looked at their surroundings as the phantom flew off and disappeared from sight.

The platform was actually the floor to a large square shaped room with almost all of It's surface coloured chrome, two large pillars, one at both sides of the room, with controls on them and several strange shaped machines. Even along the walls there were controls and small windows. On the walls were hexagon shaped doors with two small light below them. One red and one blue. The blue one was lit up. However, scattered across the floor was blood. It was light blue, black and purple. Wally tapped the Arbiter's side and nodded over to the corner of the room. Three dead Grunts lay there. Next to them was the body of a Jackal.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and walked into the room; Wally followed. With the dead Covenant here, it was obvious some kind of great battle had taken place here. But the question was; who, or what, had killed them? The Arbiter had seen and even fought many old and new enemies on the gas mine and even on the first Halo. So anything could be here that was most likely going to kill the Arbiter on sight.

Suddenly, Wally gasped and pointed behind them. The Arbiter shot round, his carbine raised. He almost dropped it at the sight before him.

An enormous machine had hovered up from below the platform. It was about thirty feet long and about half as wide. The machine had a large, short cylindrical-like main section with two huge back legs shaped like gloves coming off the sides of it. A small magenta coloured eye was on a small rectangular section coming out of the front of the cylindrical section. Below the eye were two huge glove shaped front legs, also shaped like gloves, that also came off the cylindrical section. This robot was a sentinel and known as the Enforcer.

The enforcer robot hovered towards the two. The Arbiter fired two shots from his carbine at the machine. The blasts did no damage at all. The enforcer raised It's front legs, ready to crush the Arbiter into the floor. The Arbiter and Wally began to back away, though they knew this machine was just small enough to fit into the room so they would not escape. The machine hovered closer to the Arbiter. It's legs were raised high ready to smash down on the weak enemy.

Suddenly, a barrage of blasts hit the side of the enforcer, breaking off one of It's glove-like back legs. The enforcer turned to see the phantom fly towards it at full speed. The Arbiter thought the craft was going to crash into the machine. However, the phantom shot past the enforcer and flew off across the landscape. The enforcer flew off full speed after the phantom, determined to destroy the hostile.

_"Lower the shield, Arbiter!"_ came Tartarus' voice. _"I'll pick you up when you've finished,"_

The Arbiter turned and walked back into the room; Wally followed.

"Do you know where we must go, holy Oracle?" the Arbiter asked Wally.

"Try one of the pillars," Wally answered.

The Arbiter walked over to the room's left pillar. The controls on the pillar consisted of buttons, holographic switches and many scanning devices. He rested his hand on a scanning device in the middle of the pillar's side.

The pillar suddenly rose up into the ceiling. An enormous hole opened up in the floor in front of the Arbiter. Wally walked over and peered in. The hole was actually some kind of chute that turned right and disappeared under the side of the chute's right wall. The Arbiter walked forward into the chute and fell down it. Wally activated his ant-gravity boots and hovered down after him. The hole into the chute closed, sealing the two off from the way they entered the wall.

The Arbiter slid down the chute as if he were on a slide. Wally managed to keep up with him. The chute the suddenly stopped in a flat section and a large square shaped hole opened up in the floor. Below the Arbiter was a large square shaped room with another pillar that the two saw descend into the floor.

The Arbiter jumped down onto the floor. Wally hovered down next to him. The two scanned their surroundings. The room was actually part of a long corridor that carried on in front of them. Along both sides were many small pillars and two long walkways, that were built into the walls, went along both sides of the corridor. However, more Covenant bodies were scattered along the corridor. Many of them were Grunts and there the occasional Jackal. Robot parts were also scattered across the floor.

"What do you think did this?" Wally asked the Arbiter.

"The sentinels," the Arbiter replied. "The holy warriors of the Sacred Rings. I have fought them before on the gas mine. I never knew I would be fighting them again this early after that battle,"

The Arbiter raised his carbine and walked down the corridor; Wally followed. The Arbiter aimed it from left to right every now and then to make sure there were no enemies hiding to side attack the two.

Suddenly, the Arbiter fired a shot ahead of him. It hit the wall about twenty feet in front of the two. Wally stopped dead.

"Stay behind me, Oracle," the Arbiter ordered, pulling Wally behind him.

"Arbiter?" a high pitched voice said.

The Arbiter lowered his carbine as a minor Grunt nervously stepped out from behind the wall. It was armed with a plasma pistol.

"What happened here?" the Arbiter asked the Grunt.

"Big, scary things ambush us!" the Grunt answered. "Me escape! Arbiter help us!"

The Arbiter growled slightly. The Grunt shrunk down in fear. Fleeing Covenant soldiers a disgrace to their comrades and the Great Journey. Fleeing soldiers were executed without hesitation. However, the Arbiter and Wally were new to this place and the Grunt would probably know the way through the wall. So, for now at least, the Grunt's fleeing had saved It's life.

"Take us to where you were ambushed," the Arbiter ordered.

The Grunt nodded. It turned and ran up the corridor. The Arbiter and Wally followed. The three ran to the end of the corridor and through an open doorway into another room. The Grunt screamed and hid behind the Arbiter. Wally yelled and dived to the floor to avoid a laser. The Arbiter growled.

The three were in a large square shaped room with another corridor continuing on to the right. Two of the large hexagon shaped doors were on the wall, the lights below one of them blue. However, a Covenant Grunt and a Covenant Jackal were also in the room. They were firing up at a group of sentinels. Two dead Grunt's lay dead in the corner of the room.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at the nearest sentinel. The round hit the machine. It fell to the floor and exploded. Another sentinel fired at the Jackal, but the Jackal raised It's shield and the laser hit that. The Arbiter fired two rounds from his carbine at the sentinel. They hit the machine and it exploded in mid-air and fell to the floor.

"Arbiter, our saviour!" the Grunt squeaked.

"You can thank me later!" the Arbiter replied sternly. "Right now we must continue on to the Sacred Icon,"

Suddenly, the Jackal screeched loudly and pointed up at the wall. The rest of the group, including Wally who had got up from the floor, looked to where the creature was pointing. One of the hexagon shaped doors opened up and a sentinel hovered out. It turned and fired a laser at the group, narrowly missing the Arbiter and hitting the floor. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at the sentinel. The machine was hit and fell to the floor a pile of burning metal.

"We must destroy that sentinel producer," the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter, along with the Jackal and the two Grunts, raised their weapons and fired at the sentinel producer. The blasts did little or no effect. They did not even leave a scratch on it. The Arbiter growled and lowered his carbine, only to fire at the sentinel producer again as another machine hovered out of it.

"How can we destroy these infernal machines?" the Arbiter growled, clenching his hand into a fist.

Wally looked over to the bodies of the dead Grunts. There was something very familiar among them. He ran over to their bodies and knelt down. He picked up a small ball shaped device that was dark blue and had an orange thunderbolt going down the front of the object.

A plasma grenade! Wally thought, remembering what the device was.

He found another one underneath the body of one of the Grunt's. Wally stood up and turned to the Arbiter.

"Arbiter," he said, drawing his attention. "Use these,"

Wally tossed the plasma grenades over to the Arbiter, who caught them. The Arbiter lit one of the grenades and tossed it up at the sentinel producer. The device stuck to the front of the door.

BOOM! An explosion filled the room as the plasma grenade ripped the door off of the sentinel producer and destroyed the lights on the bottom of the producer. Sparks flew from inside the producer onto the floor.

The Arbiter lit the other plasma grenade and threw it at the other sentinel producer on the other side of the room. The device exploded and destroyed the door and light on the machine builder.

"Let us continue on," the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter led the squad out of the room into the next corridor. Like the corridor before, this one was filled with pillars along both walls and had two walkways, one built into each wall on both sides of the room, only this one was completely straight and the end was only about twenty metres ahead. However, there were more Covenant bodies scattered down this corridor. Their blood was sprayed across the walls and the floor along with their weapons and several plasma grenades.

The Arbiter ran down the corridor towards the end. Wally and the other Covenant soldiers followed. As the squad neared the end, the Arbiter suddenly screeched to a halt. The squad did the same. On the wall next to the doorway at the end of the corridor were two more sentinel producers. Thankfully, for the moment, their light were red, meaning they were not activated.

"We must hurry before they activate," the Arbiter said.

The squad ran through the doorway into the room on the other side. The room was a small square shape with another large pillar going up from the floor to the ceiling. Like before, there were controls, buttons, switches and scanning devices scattered across the pillar. The Arbiter approached the pillar and rested a hand on a scanning device.

The pillar suddenly rose up into the ceiling and disappeared from sight. A large hole opened in the floor to reveal another chute that led down and turned right, disappearing under the side of the chute. The Arbiter jumped into the chute and disappeared from sight after going under the side. Wally and the Covenant squad followed.

The Arbiter suddenly came to a stop. This part of the chute ended and entered into another long drop about fifty feet long. The Arbiter peered over the edge and looked down into the hole.

Suddenly, he was pushed forward. One of the Grunts had slid into him. Moments later, the Jackal followed, pushing the Arbiter closer to the edge even more. The other Grunt slid down towards the three at full speed. It hit the back of the Jackal and pushed the Arbiter over the edge into the hole. Wally hovered down after the Arbiter. The Jackal growled and pushed the Grunt in front of it into the hole and then grabbed the Grunt behind it by the head and jumped into the hole.

As the Arbiter hit the bottom of the hole, the floor went flat turned right again. The Arbiter stood up and walked down the path. On the floor ahead of him was a light silver coloured surface. As the Arbiter approached it, a square shaped hole opened up. The Arbiter walked over to the edge of the hole to see another pillar descend into the floor. The Arbiter jumped down the ten foot drop from the chute to the floor. He was in another square shaped room with a small doorway on the wall in front of him.

WHAM! The Arbiter flew to the floor, dropping his carbine. One of the Grunts had fallen out of the hole and landed on top of him. The Grunt got off It's leader. The Arbiter stood up, picking up his carbine, and glared at the Grunt.

"Sorry, Arbiter!" it squeaked, only to be met with a fist in the side of the head.

Wally hovered down from the hole, holding the other Grunt by the arm. He set himself and the Covenant soldier down on the floor. The Jackal landed next to them.

The Arbiter walked through the doorway into the next room. The rest of the squad followed. Wally gasped.

The squad found themselves in a large room with a walkway going around the side of a U-shaped cream coloured wall. Below the walkway the squad were on was another walkway that was about fifteen feet above a large square shaped brown metal floor with many Forerunner markings engraved in it. Four huge cylindrical shaped pillars descended down from the ceiling about two hundred feet up to the four corners of the metal floor. About five hundred feet in font of the platform was an enormous brown door with two smaller silver coloured walls coming out of the sides of the white coloured walls and going over to the door. The room was lit a bright colour, presumably the light was coming from the walls like it was in most Forerunner structures.

"Where are we?" the Arbiter asked Wally.

_"You have reached the shield generator,"_ came Tartarus' voice before Wally replied. _"Many of my Brutes have fallen attempting to take it down. Let's see if you and your Oracle friend fare better, Arbiter,"_

"We must be on the other side of the wall," Wally said. "We will need to find a way through that door,"

The Arbiter nodded and went to jump down from the walkway to the floor below. Wally activated his anti-gravity boots.

Suddenly, Wally froze. The rest of the squad did as well. Hovering about thirty feet above the metal brown floor was a large machine. It was another enforcer, only this time there were two half-circle shaped shield emitting from the two front legs and hovering about five feet from the machine. For the moment, it had It's back turned to the group.

One of the Grunts whimpered.

"Silence!" the Arbiter whispered sharply. "That machine will he-"

"LOOK OUT!" Wally yelled.

The Jackal screeched loudly and dived sideways. Wally pushed the Arbiter to the walkway floor and grabbed the two Grunts by the arms and hovered into the air. A second later…

BOOM! An enormous explosion filled the room. Wally only just managed to hover away from the blast radius. He looked down to see a pillar of smoke rising from the walkway floor. A large charcoal black mark was covering the area of the walkway floor where the Grunts and Wally had been standing just a few mere seconds earlier. The Jackal and the Arbiter were still laying down on the floor.

"Arbiter!" Wally called down. "Are you alright?"

Wally breathed a sigh of relief when the Arbiter let out a slight groan. He stood up from the floor. The Jackal, however, did not. The explosion had killed the creature outright. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at the shield hovering in front of the enforcer. The round did nothing apart from make the enforcer fire a wave of razor sharp spikes at the Arbiter. The Arbiter jumped off the walkway to the brown floor below, narrowly missing one spike that almost scraped along the side of his mouth. Wally set the two Grunts down on the metal floor. They took no time in hiding behind one of the massive pillars.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at the exposed machinery parts on the underbelly of the enforcer. The round hit something holding the right back leg onto the machine. A loud metallic growl filled the room and the enforcer pointed down at the Arbiter. A swarm of rockets flew out of the top of the enforcer and flew straight for the Arbiter, who dodged them by diving out of the way.

"Oracle!" the Arbiter shouted to Wally, who was next to the pillar. "I need your help!"

Wally nodded and raised his arm with the bulge. The front of the bulge opened up. A red laser shot out of the bulge and hit the back of the enforcer, tearing off the right back leg. The enforcer emitted another metallic growl and turned towards Wally. The Arbiter saw his chance and fired a barrage of rounds from his carbine at the exposed parts of the enforcer.

BOOM! The Arbiter must have hit something explosive because when the first round hit the enforcer it blew up and broke apart in mid-air. The remains fell to the floor a burning pile of metal.

"Good work, Oracle," the Arbiter said, glaring at the Grunts who cautiously lumbered out from behind the wall. "Now we must deactivate the shield generator and find a way out of this wall."

Wally nodded and rested a hand on the side of the pillar he was standing next to. The pillar rose up from the platform until it was about seventy feet above the ceiling. Wally then hovered over to another pillar and did the same thing.

When all four pillars had been detached from the brown metal floor, a small control panel rose up from the middle of the metal floor. A holographic switch appeared. The Arbiter walked over to the switch and rested a hand on it. A loud unlocking-like sound filed the room. The metal floor suddenly descended about fifty feet from where it was and then began to hover forward towards the enormous metal door.

_"Good work, Arbiter,"_ came Tartarus' voice. _"You have lowered the shield,"_

The sound of large metal moving filled the room. The group looked towards the door to see it moving! A large opening appeared down the middle of the door, breaking it in two. The doors moved inside the walls, revealing the group with an enormous metal floor surface with another enormous wall far ahead of them.

The metal floor began to move forward towards the next enormous wall. As it went through the area where the door was, the group saw that they were outside. The Arbiter looked up to see a blue haze retreating behind the top of the second wall in front of them like some great beast fleeing from a defeated battle but preparing to fight again.

A loud whirring sound filled the air. The group looked up to see the phantom hovering down towards them. It headed straight for the wall. The Arbiter looked ahead and saw another door beginning to break in two.

_"I'll pick you up when the platform stops,"_ Tartarus said.

As the enormous door opened, a set of explosions erupted along the top of the phantom. The craft pulled away and fired a barrage of blasts from It's cannons into the room as it flew away. Tartarus growled.

_"Blasted machine!"_ he said. _"It's too dangerous, Arbiter. Make your own way through the wall."_

The group saw what Tartarus meant by 'blasted machines'. Another enforcer was hovering over where the platform would have to stop. On some kind of pathway that went around the half-circle shaped room were figures firing up at the enforcer. Flying in the air around the room were sentinels, who were firing down at the figures.

The platform entered the room. Almost immediately, the figures began jumping onto it. The two Grunts screamed in terror. The Arbiter and Wally went wide eyed. The figures were humans, but they had small tentacles sticking out of their body and hands. Their heads looked crushed and mutated. All four of the group knew what these figures were.

They were combat forms. The Flood.

"The Parasite?" the Arbiter exclaimed. "What are they doing here?"

"This ring has a library where the Flood are kept, as do all of the Halo rings," Wally explained. "The sentinels are also kept here to monitor them and make sure they do not escape,"

One of the combat forms, unarmed, spotted the group and charged towards them. The Arbiter saw the creature coming and fired a few rounds from his carbine. The combat form was hit and fell to the platform floor dead. Another unarmed combat form near the group also jumped onto the platform only to be met by the same fate.

"AAAAH!"

The Arbiter and Wally shot round to see both Grunts lying on the floor. A sentinel was hovering a few metres above their bodies. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a round at the sentinel. The machine fell to the platform floor and exploded.

"We must find a way out of here!" the Arbiter said as the battle around them began to grow more dangerous.

Wally suddenly grabbed the Arbiter's shoulders and hovered high into the air. An explosion erupted below them where they had just been standing. The enforcer went to fire at the two, as they were hovering in front of it, when a combat form on the path way fired a laser, from a sentinel it had destroyed, at the back of the enormous machine. The enforcer turned to fire on the combat form. Wally saw their chance and hovered over to the front of the enforcer. The Arbiter aimed his carbine down at the enforcer's light and fired a round. The enforcer just all of a sudden broke apart and fell to the platform floor.

"Alright, now how do we get out of here, besides the way we came?" Wally asked, scanning the room.

BOOM! An explosion on the wall of the room blew open an enormous hole that led into another room. Almost instantly afterwards, a wave of combat forms charged out of the hole into the fray. Wally hovered to the hole, narrowly avoiding gun and blast fire from combat forms below.

When the two reached the hole, they were revealed with a thin dark silver coloured corridor about fifty feet long. It was dimly lit. At the other end, on the opposite wall, was a small doorway. Along the corridor were several pillars going up from the floor to the ceiling, each casting a large shadow against the walls. Also along the opposite wall was a pathway about ten feet high.

"That will be our way out of this war zone," the Arbiter said. "Hopefully, the Parasite will trouble us again,"

_ROOOOAAAAARRRRR!_

The loud roar echoed throughout the corridor. Not even a second passed before an enormous group of combat forms charged out of the doorway and ran down the corridor towards the hole. Wally hovered over to one of the pillars and set the Arbiter down. Wally began to shake with fear as the Flood combat forms ran over towards them. One even got within five feet of the two. The Arbiter went to raise his carbine, but Wally grabbed it and shook his head at the Arbiter, though it was doubtful the Arbiter saw him.

Thankfully, the combat forms ran over to the hole and climbed into the half-circle shaped room. Wally breathed a sigh of relief. The Arbiter ran out from the shadows towards the doorway at the other end of the corridor; Wally followed.

When the two reached the end of the corridor, they ran through the doorway into another small square shaped room with another pillar in the middle of the room. The Arbiter walked over to the pillar and rested a hand on a scanning device. The pillar ascended up into the ceiling and a large hole appeared, revealing another chute, that went left, to the two. The Arbiter jumped into the chute; Wally hovered down after him. The two came across a flat floor section of the chute. Another large door opened to reveal another small square shaped room with a doorway on It's left wall. The two jumped down onto the floor and ran through the doorway into another dark silver corridor with pillars and pathway along the right wall leading down to a doorway.

Wally grabbed the Arbiter and pulled him into the shadows.

"Oracle!" the Arbiter growled. "What are you doi-"

"Shhh!" Wally replied, pointing ahead down the corridor.

The Arbiter looked ahead and saw why Wally wanted him to be quiet.

A large group of unarmed combat forms ran out of the doorway at the other end of the corridor. Two large figures with huge head and small legs waddled out after them. Carrier forms. They would carry infection forms which would then infect any nearby host.

The Arbiter raised his carbine at the group of Flood. Wally saw this and tried to push it down but the Arbiter was too strong and pulled his weapon away from Wally and aimed it down at one of the carriers. His finger rested on the trigger. The carrier, the Arbiter's target, just stopped where it as if it had seen something. The Arbiter pulled the trigger.

The sound of a round being fired filled the air in the room. The carrier was hit. BOOM! The creature exploded and threw several nearby combat forms through the air into either a nearby pillar or the wall. A group of five infection forms flew out of the carrier form when it exploded. The group of Flood, as if they had some kind of special power to see enemies in the dark, immediately charged towards where Wally and the Arbiter were hiding.

The Arbiter ran out from behind the pillar; Wally hovered high into the air out of the Flood's reach. The Arbiter fired as barrage of rounds at the group of Flood, killing a combat form and two infection forms. The other carrier form waddled towards him from behind. Wally saw this and raised his left arm. The front of the bulge on his arm opened up. A red laser fired out of it and hit the carrier. The blast was so powerful that it actually eradicated the carrier completely, along with the infection forms inside it.

When the last combat form was gunned down, Wally hovered down alongside the Arbiter.

"I see you have a laser," the Arbiter said.

Wally nodded.

"I never use it much because It's dangerous," Wally replied. "Anyway, we should move on before more Flood show up,"

The Arbiter nodded and ran down the corridor towards the doorway; Wally followed. When they reached the doorway, the two were revealed with a large room that had many lights and controls across It's walls. Several pillars also went along the walls. A large cube shaped object with several small thin cylindrical pillars, with a hand sized ball on top of each pillar, sticking out of the corners of the cube's top. Out of the four balls came a small green light that joined onto some kind of laser that came out from the room's left wall and over a small chasm, that cut the room in two and had a small path going over the middle of it, to the other side where the green laser carried on down some kind of corridor to another room.

The Arbiter and Wally cautiously walked into the room. The Arbiter kept his finger on the carbine's trigger in case any Flood attacked them. The two approached the pathway going over the small chasm.

Suddenly, the Arbiter fired a round up at the green laser. Wally hid behind one of the pillars and poked his head out. The Arbiter scanned the room, his finger tight on the carbine's trigger so he could blast the threat when it appeared again. Wally walked out from behind the pillar and scanned the room.

"What is it you saw?" he asked the Arbiter.

"A small floating machine," the Arbiter answered. "No bigger than the size of your hand,"

Suddenly, the Arbiter fired again. This time, a small object was hit and fell to the floor a burning pile of metal. Wally ran over to the small pile of metal. He knelt down and picked up the small remains. The robot had a small circular shaped body with a large bulge on the front of it. Two small wing-shaped objects stuck out from the sides of the front of the machine. A small green light was visible in the middle between the two wings. It was a Repairer. They were small machines, unarmed but fast moving, that could repair almost anything from the smallest size to something as big as a Forerunner structure. They could even heal Forerunners themselves if they were injured.

The Arbiter walked up to Wally and stared at the small robot in his hands. Wally stood up and threw the remains into the chasm.

The Arbiter suddenly raised his carbine up at the ceiling. Wally looked up and saw a group of repairers hovering down towards them. The Arbiter went to fire but Wally rested a hand on his carbine, stopping him from firing. One of the repairers hovered down to Wally and fired a small green beam at the right side of Wally's chest. That area of the suit then suddenly became transparent, revealing Wally's chest, only it was flesh that was revealed. It was dark silver coloured metal. Wally looked down at his chest and then at the repairer. The green laser disappeared, making the side chest area of Wally's suit opaque again, and the repairer let out a small beep before flying off after the other repairers.

"Why do you have a half-robotic chest, holy Oracle?" the Arbiter asked Wally.

"I…" Wally began. "I… I'm sorry, I do not really want to talk about it,"

The Arbiter nodded.

"I understand," he replied.

BOOM! An explosion erupted on the other side of the room. Wally and the Arbiter shot round to see a large pile of rubble fly through the air off of the wall left of the doorway and scatter around the room, some even going into the chasm. Then, out of the dust cloud came a group of three combat forms. Only one was armed, the weapon being a plasma rifle. The combat forms spotted the Arbiter and Wally and charged towards the two.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired at the combat forms, hitting and killing one of them. Another, however, jumped over the chasm and raised It's arm to whack the Arbiter. However, he saw the combat form coming and swung his carbine at the creature. The impact was so powerful that it actually caused the combat form to break apart. The creature's mutated limbs flew across the floor.

Suddenly, Wally pushed the Arbiter behind the cube shaped object and hovered into the air. The reason; a barrage of sky blue blasts had flown at the two. The combat form with the plasma rifle had tried to kill the two. The creature ran over the walkway, determined to kill It's two enemies. However, the Arbiter was waiting for the combat form.

WHAM! He threw a punch at the combat form. The creature flew through the air and falling in the chasm. The Arbiter then ran over the walkway to the other side of the room. Wally hovered after him. The two went down the corridor into the next room, which was exactly the same as the last room, only there was a doorway on the room's left wall on the other side of the chasm. There were several Covenant Jackals and grunts lying dead in piles around the room. Their blood had been sprayed across the floor and walls.

"I think the Flood have moved on ahead of us," Wally said as he set himself down on next to the Arbiter.

"No," the Arbiter replied. "We have only just encountered them so these warriors must have fallen to the sentinels. Stay sharp, they could still be lurking,"

The Arbiter and Wally cautiously walked into the room. The Arbiter kept his finger on his carbine's trigger. Wally kept his arm half-raised. The two knew that some kind of threat was most likely to attack them so they had to be ready for them, otherwise they would be killed.

As the two walked across the pathway that went across the chasm, the Arbiter stopped dead. Ahead of them on the wall were two sentinel producers. For the moment, the lights below them were red, but they would soon turn blue and start spewing out sentinels so the Arbiter and Wally had to be quick in getting out of the room.

The two ran over to the doorway that led into, again, a small square shaped room. As usual, another pillar was placed in the middle of the room descending from the ceiling to the floor. The Arbiter walked up to the pillar and went to rest a hand on a scanning device to open the hole.

BOOM! Part of the pillar seemed to explode. Wally dived to the floor. The Arbiter fell backwards and saw two sentinels hovering in front of the sentinel producers, their lasers aimed directly at their enemies. All they had to do was fire again and the Arbiter and Wally were dead.

Suddenly, Wally yelled loudly but quickly faded away. The Arbiter looked and saw why. The sentinel's laser had hit the scanning device and opened the hole in the floor. The Arbiter scrambled forward and dived into the hole, narrowly missing another laser from the sentinels as they tried to kill him.

The Arbiter slid down the sides of the tunnel as if he were on a slide. He went right underneath the side of the first part of the tunnel and fell into a huge drop. A few metres below him was Wally, who had activated his anti-gravity boots.

"Oracle, watch out!" the Arbiter shouted.

Too late.

The Arbiter hit Wally and the two tumbled down the chute rolling over each other and hitting the metal floor and sides of the tunnel. Finally, and thankfully after a few seconds, the two came to a stop on a flat surfaced part of the tunnel. Wally groaned and rubbed his head as he stood up. The Arbiter shook his head to get his vision back in.

"Sorry," Wally said.

The Arbiter only nodded, but as he turned away, he muttered something under his breath, probably discriminating Wally.

Suddenly, the large hole opened up beneath the two's feet. Wally and the Arbiter moved until it had fully opened before jumping down into the square shaped room. The pillar, which had descended into the floor, rose up and hit the ceiling again as the hole closed. The Arbiter scanned the room. A small doorway on the right wall led into a small corridor.

"Down there," the Arbiter said, pointing to the corridor.

The Arbiter and Wally ran down the corridor towards the end. The Arbiter kept his weapon half-raised in case any enemies attacked them, which was most likely to happen. When the two were about half-way down the corridor, Wally skidded to a halt all of a sudden. The Arbiter noticed this and stopped as well.

"What is it?" he asked Wally.

"Listen," Wally replied.

The Arbiter listened out for what Wally was hearing. He could hear it as well. It was a low rumbling/whistling sound. It sounded like when an airplane went into a dive. The Arbiter's eyes went wide.

"Oracle!" he exclaimed. "Get away from the wa…"

BOOM! The corridor seemed to explode all around the two. Wally and the Arbiter were thrown to the floor. Dust and debris filled the air and partially buried the two. Almost immediately afterwards, gunfire and small explosions. Sentinels and Flood combat and infection forms quickly spewed into the corridor, fighting each other.

The Arbiter groaned as he got up. He quickly came to realise the war zone raging around him. The Arbiter ran over to Wally, who was thrown several feet from the blast, and shook him slightly. He was either dead or was knocked out. The Arbiter picked up Wally's body and placed him over his shoulder before running through the storm of blasts and gunfire towards the new hole in the corridor.

As the Arbiter ran through the hole, he went wide eyed as he came onto some kind of ramp that led up to a large craft. The Arbiter ran up the ramp, punching an unarmed combat form that tried to hit him to pieces, to the top. He went wide-eyed and almost dropped Wally and his carbine.

The craft's enormous wreckage was laid out in front and below the Arbiter. It had a short but wide rectangular shaped floor with two large walls running around the edges. There were several smaller walls going across from one side wall to the other. However, some were stuck against or broken in half by a large rocky surface the craft had crashed into. Scattered around the craft were several group of Flood and sentinels fighting each other. Large fires lit up the dark sky and sent up bellowing clouds of smoke. This was really a war zone.

A stir came from Wally. The Arbiter set him down and Wally stood up.

"What happened?" he asked as he held his head and tried to stand still.

"You were knocked out," the Arbiter answered.

Wally shook his head slightly to get his vision back. It was then he noticed the enormous downed craft in front of them.

"What the hell…?" he gasped. "A sentinel production facility. Is this what crashed nearby?" he asked the Arbiter.

"Most likely," the Arbiter answered. "We must move quickly,"

There was a ten foot drop from the top of the ramp to the war ton metal floor below. The Arbiter jumped down onto the floor. Wally activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered after him, keeping high above the war zone.

The Arbiter ran towards a blown open gap in one of the many middle walls going across the sentinel production facility. A combat form, armed with a battle rifle, fired on him, only to be killed by a carbine through It's head. When the Arbiter reached the hole, a sentinel spotted him and fired a laser, which the Arbiter dodged. The sentinel was then shot down by a combat form that jumped up and whacked it with It's tentacle hands.

The Arbiter looked ahead and saw the next wall also blown apart, but there were large rocks in the gaps. The Arbiter growled. How was he going to get past that wall? The rocks were too treacherous to climb over and he could not stay here either without being ripped apart by the sentinels and Flood fighting around him.

Then, the Arbiter saw a way past the wall. The right end of the wall was pushed against a rock. In that rock was a small cave. Maybe that led around the wall. The Arbiter ran towards the cave as fast as he could, narrowly avoiding stray lasers, blasts and bullets from the fighting around him. The noise of the battle was partially blocked out as he entered the cave. The Arbiter kept his weapon raised as he ran through the tunnel the cave led into. As he neared the end of the tunnel, he could see the edge of the sentinel production facility's wall on a snow/rock covered ground. The Arbiter ran out of the tunnel onto the new ground. Wally hovered down beside him.

"Oracle, where do we go now?" the Arbiter asked Wally.

"We have to keep moving towards the main structure," he answered, pointing ahead at the enormous structure far away ahead of them. "But the problem is; how do we get there? The Flood and sentinels will be fighting on the way there-"

_"Arbiter?"_ Tartarus' voice suddenly erupted. _"I have your armour's signal back again. Where are you?"_

"We are at the bottom of the second wall," the Arbiter answered. "We do not know how we can get to the icon without help,"

_"Do not worry, Arbiter,"_ Tartarus replied. _"We have an Elite unit to the north of your location. They have set up a camp. Link up with them and wait for reinforcements,"_

The Arbiter ran ahead in the direction of the camp, or where it was supposed to be, with Wally following close behind. As they passed the end of the sentinel production facility, Wally turned his head to look at the downed craft. The wreckage of an enforcer was lying there. Around it were several combat forms firing up at a few sentinels, who were firing down at the Flood. However, this was all out of sight within a few seconds as the Arbiter and Wally turned right into a small cave, only to come out on the other side into a bowl-like area.

A few metres in front of them was some kind of large circular platform on the ground. Around It's edges were several razor sharp shield-like parts of the platform risen up in a triangle formation. Scattered around the platform were several large dark blue metallic pods that had part of their fronts missing.

Suddenly something moved behind one of the shields on the platform. The Arbiter raised his carbine.

"Who's there!" he demanded.

"Arbiter," a voice said.

A figure ran forward from behind one of the shields. It was a minor Elite. It was also carrying a carbine.

"Praise!" another voice said. The Arbiter and Wally looked at a pod right of the platform to see another minor Elite, also armed with a carbine, standing there. "The Arbiter is here! And with the holy Oracle. Now they can guide us to victory!"

"What happened here?" the Arbiter asked. "Are there any more of our forces here?"

"Yes," the first minor Elite answered. "Our commander and several other Elites have landed further in. But with the parasite everywhere, it will not be easy reaching him."

"We need to," the Arbiter replied. "Tartarus will meet us wherever the commander is,"

"Our commander has landed further in," the second Elite piped up. "We must meet him. Follow us Arbiter, we will guide you and the Oracle there,"

The two minor Elites turned and ran in the direction of the back of the bowl-like area, in the direction of the library structure. The Arbiter and Wally followed. As the group came towards the back of the bowl-like area, they saw a small tunnel lead through the rock wall. The group ran into the tunnel. The exit was about forty feet ahead. The group ran down the tunnel.

When they emerged, the group found themselves in another bowl-like area, only it was smaller and there were several large blast doors built into the walls. A small path went along the side of the walls and were level with the doors so anyone could use them. In the middle of the area was a small hill with several more shield-like objects placed around the side of it about two feet from each other. A Covenant shade turret was placed between two of the shields, facing towards the tunnel the squad had come out of. A figure with shiny armour was on it. Another two were hiding behind separate shields, their weapons at the ready.

"Arbiter!" the figure on the turret exclaimed.

The figure jumped off the turret. The Arbiter could see that it was Vadumee. The other two figures stepped out from behind the shields. They were also Elites and were armed with needlers.

"What are you doing here, Arbiter?" Vadumee asked him. "And who's this?" he added, gesturing towards Wally.

"He is the holy Oracle," the Arbiter replied. "We are here because-"

_ROOOOAAARRRR!_

The Arbiter was cut off by the roar that sent chills down everyone's spines. It came from everywhere.

"Up there!" one of the Elites at the shields exclaimed, pointing up towards the back of the open area, towards the library structure.

The group looked to where the Elite was pointing. Wally began to shake with fear. An enormous group of Flood jumped down from the top of the rock wall and charged towards the camp.

"The parasite is upon us!" one of the Elites exclaimed.

"Hold the camp!" Vadumee ordered. "We must drive off the parasite until reinforcements arrive!"

The squad ran into the small camp. The Arbiter climbed onto the shade turret and turned it towards the wave of Flood. A barrage of red blasts shot out of the cannon and head straight towards their target, each taking out at least two or three Flood forms. The rest of the Flood immediately scattered behind rocks to get away from the deadly blasts.

Vadumee pulled out an energy sword and charged towards two combat forms hiding behind a rock. They saw him coming but before they could do anything, he swung his sword and cut both of the combat forms in two. Another combat form charged up to him from behind. However, one of the Elites armed with a needler fired a few projectiles at the creature.

Wally watched all this from behind one of the shields. The red blasts flew past him like a continuous storm. The other Covenant Elites were scattered around fighting the Flood like a unit ordered to stay behind and fight the enemy to the last man.

A blast hit the front of the shield, nearly hitting Wally's hand.

"Oracle!" the Arbiter shouted. "You must stay behind cover! We cannot risk losing you to the Flood!"

Wally nodded and retreated behind the shield. He felt stray blasts and projectiles hit the other side of the shield. It was best if he stayed out of this battle.

"Look out!" one of the Elites shouted. "The parasites infectors are coming towards us!"

The Elite was right. An enormous swarm of infection forms fell down from the top of the rock wall and moved towards the camp. The Arbiter fired a barrage of blasts at the infection forms. Some were hit and exploded, which caused others to explode, but the swarm just kept coming. The other Elites, who had killed or driven off the combat forms, turned and fired on the infection forms.

Suddenly, one infection form jumped onto the leg of one of the Elites. The Elite screamed in pain and pulled the creature off, only to have two more jump on It's chest. Blood flew from the wounds as the infection forms began to eat away at the creature's flesh. After a few seconds, the Elite fell forward onto the ground, dead.

As the Arbiter fired another two rounds, both took out an enormous group of infection forms, the remaining Flood turned and fled. One of the Elites roared in triumph.

"We have them on the run!" it shouted.

"Stay alert," Vadumee replied. "They will return."

_ROOOOAAARRRRR!_

The squad shot round to see another wave of combat forms coming towards them. Only this time, they were more of them. They seemed to cover the entire top of the rock wall. The Elites raised their weapons and the Arbiter aimed the turret at them.

"Warriors!" Vadumee declared. "Fight on to the last!"

Suddenly, a loud whirring noise filled the air. The group looked up to see what they had hoped for. The phantom. The enormous craft hovered down above the camp and fired a barrage from It's cannons at the wave of Flood. Each blast took out at least half a dozen combat forms. The combat forms turned tail and fled.

One of the Elites let out a triumphant roar.

"The parasite is no match for our superiority!" it shouted.

The phantom hovered down until it was about ten feet above the ground next to the camp. A large vehicle dropped to the ground. It had a large main section, that was shaped like a futuristic seat, a small platform at the back and two large wing-like sections with the end bent forwards as if someone had grabbed them and bent them in that direction. On the back of the wing-like sections were two small engines. Rising up from the top of the platform was a turret with sharp armour around the sides. A large door, that only covered about half of the front of the vehicle, was easy to make out. This vehicle is usually known as a Spectre. Mainly because, like It's small counterpart the ghost, it can be in one place at one moment and be gone the next like a ghost.

Vadumee walked over to the Arbiter as he got off the shade turret.

"So, Arbiter," he said. "Why are you and the Oracle here?" he asked.

"In the centre of this library area of the ring, there is a Sacred Icon that is critical to the Great Journey," the Arbiter answered. "I must find it,"

"Then we shall cut into the heart of this infestation, retrieve the icon and burn any of the parasite that dare stand in our way!" Vadumee announced.

The group of Elites let out a triumphant roar to show they would continue to the death.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Arbiter," Vadumee said to the Arbiter. "The parasite is not to be trifled with,"

The Arbiter looked ahead to see the only blast door that led in the direction of the enormous library structure.

"Warriors! Mount up!" Vadumee ordered. "Arbiter, you lead the assault! I'll follow when our reinforcements arrive!"

The Arbiter nodded and ran over to the spectre. He climbed into the driver's seat at the front. Two of the other three Elites climbed onto the two wing-like sides of the vehicle and the last got onto the turret.

"Oracle," the Arbiter said. "You'll have to sit on one of the sides. Just be careful,"

Wally nodded and ran over to the vehicle. The Elite sitting on the left wing moved closer to the end to give Wally some room. Wally climbed onto the wing and sat down. The Arbiter pulled down the front hatch of the spectre, which was hovering several feet off the ground, and drove forwards towards the blast door built into the rock wall. Behind the group, the phantom, who had picked up Vadumee, hovered up into the air and flew into the sky.

The blast door opened as the spectre approached it to reveal a light brown/gold coloured corridor, almost the same colour as the skin of the Flood themselves, that was completely straight and about seventy feet long. About half-way down the corridor, the floor went down at a 20 degree angle. Another large blast door was at the end. What was on the other side the squad did not know, but they did know it was not going to be anything good.

The Arbiter drove the spectre down the corridor towards the end. When they reached it, the blast door opened. The Arbiter drove the spectre through the doorway back into the outside world again. The entire group went wide eyed at the sight before them.

In front of the spectre was an enormous area filled with rocks, small mountains and hills, and large holes. Going between or even over some of the holes were narrow rock pathways. Large caves went into the side of the small rock hills and mountains. Far away at the very back was the enormous library structure that seemed to dwarf everything. In front of it was another wall, however it was on fire and crumbling. The group could see why.

Scattered around this enormous area were Covenant vehicles, many of them wraiths and ghosts. They were zooming around and/or firing on sentinels that were hovering above the ground. The group could even see enforcers and several Flood forms as well. This area had literally been turned into a war zone as smoke clouds from raging fires scattered around the area or from the wall filled the air.

"Our reinforcements have run into trouble," the Elite sitting next to Wally said.

"Then we must help them," the Arbiter replied.

"Onward to the sacred icon!" the Elite on the turret declared as if he were commanding an army and leading them into battle.

The Arbiter drove the spectre into the area. Very quickly, they came close to a wraith that was shooting mortar blasts at an enforcer hovering over one of the many holes. BOOM! One of the blasts hit the side of the enforcer. The enormous machine broke apart and disappeared into the hole.

"Noble allies!" the Elite on the turret shouted to the wraith. "We have come for your aid to get to the sacred icon!"

The wraith turned to face the spectre.

Suddenly, Wally dived into the cog pit and pushed the controls forward, causing the spectre to shoot forward towards further into the war zone.

"Oracle!" the Arbiter shouted, grabbing Wally's chest. "What are you doi-"

BOOM! A shot exploded behind the vehicle, cutting the Arbiter off mid-sentence. The group looked to see a blue haze fade away. That haze came from a mortar blast fired from the wraith the group had just stopped in front of.

"Our allies have fired on us!" the Elite on the turret shouted as he turned the turret to face the wraith.

"It's not under your control," Wally said to the Elite. "It is the Flood. They have control of it."

The Arbiter went quiet. The Flood using vehicles. No. This was not good. Not good at all. With this new advantage… they could spread faster and become harder enemies to defeat. But this also signalled something worse. They were learning. They were learning how to use vehicles… now they would be virtually relentless and possibly even unstoppable on the battlefield.

The turret chattered away, snapping the Arbiter back into reality. He drove the spectre forward, narrowly missing another mortar blast from the wraith. The spectre hovered onto an open area that led onto a pathway that went over a large hole. On the other side of the pathway was a large cave that led inside a small hill.

Just as the Arbiter drove the spectre onto the path, Wally suddenly gasped and pointed into the hole. The rest of the group looked and saw the top of an enforcer rise up out of the hole. It's small eye locked onto the Covenant target. It's front legs rose, ready to smash down onto the intruders. The Elite on the turret and the two Elites sitting on the sides of the spectre fired up at the enforcer. They managed to blast off one of the front legs. This, however, barely did anything to the enforcer, apart from making it emit a metallic sound, which Wally took for a growl. The creature hovered after the spectre as it went onto the open area on the other side of the pathway, determined to kill the Covenant.

"ARBITER! LOOK OUT!" Wally yelled, pointing ahead.

The Arbiter, who had looked over his shoulder to see the enforcer chasing them, looked ahead. Charing towards them at full speed was a warthog with a machine gun turret. Driving the warthog, with difficulty as it was swerving and skidding everywhere. The Arbiter grabbed the spectre's controls and swerved left around the warthog. The incoming vehicle hit the spectre's right wing and flipped over. The turret flew off the turret and flew towards the enforcer. The weapon hit the enforcer right in the eye. The machine emitted a loud metallic roar but within a few seconds it fell into the hole, along with the warthog, and disappeared from sight.

Not wanting to attract any attention, the Arbiter drove the spectre on and into the tunnel that led inside the small hill.

"I've just realised something," Wally said. "That's a human vehicle. I've seen it before,"

"The humans cannot possibly be here!" the Elite sitting next to him growled, making Wally shrink in fear. "They would not even survive the enormous Flood and sentinel infested walls!"

"They must have found another way in," the Arbiter replied. "With the vehicles this far, it is possible,"

"Then we must hurry!" the Elite on the turret said in a panicked-like tone. "If they get the icon before us, the Great Journey will be ruined!"

The spectre came out of the tunnel and into a small open area with a pathway that led over another large hole to another open area on the other side. A small path went out of that open area and cut right through the middle of two small rocky hills. On the other side was a large cube shaped structure with many rectangular sections sticking out from the sides and top structure that led to the library structure.

"The icon is in sight," the Arbiter said. "We are almost there,"

He pushed the controls forward to maximum. The spectre shot forward towards the pathway. They Covenant squad had to get to the icon quicker now that they knew the humans were here as well.

Suddenly, a large shape appeared out from the gap between the two small rocky hills. It was a large, bulky rectangular-like shape with a large cannon sticking out from the top of the rectangular shape. Four small metal bars were on the four corners of the main section of the tank for soldier to sit and hold onto whilst firing. It was a scorpion tank.

The scorpion tank drove out into the open area. It stopped all of a sudden ten feet from the side of the hole. The enormous cannon aimed up at towards the spectre. The crew froze.

"Do you think it is humans or Flood controlling that tank?" one of the Elites.

"It does not matter!" the Elite on the turret barked. "We have to find a way to destroy it,"

BOOM! A shot filled the air. The Arbiter pushed the controls to maximum, causing the spectre to shoot forward. An enormous explosion erupted where the vehicle had been just a mere second earlier. The Elite on the turret aimed the weapon towards the tank and fired. A barrage of blue blasts flew out over the hole and hit their target, but with the tank's thick armour, they were going to do little good. Either the group were going to have to find another way around or one of them was going to have to run over to the tank and kill the one driving it.

"Commander, we have found human vehicles here as well,"

"Keep moving, I'm on my way," came Vadumee's voice.

The Arbiter began to zigzag the spectre around the open area to avoid the shells from the scorpion tank. If even one hit their vehicle or hit the ground near their vehicle, they would be blown apart or thrown into one of the hole.

"We cannot keep doing this forever!" one of the Elites sitting on the side of the spectre growled. "The longer we fool around here, the more chance the humans will have getting to the icon,"

"Well we cannot do anything else, though!" the Arbiter replied.

"Oracle!" the Elite on the turret said. "Can you not do anything to help?" it asked him.

"Not really," Wally replied.

Suddenly, the tank fired another shot. Only this time, it was aimed up at the sky. The group looked up to see the phantom hovering about a hundred feet above the ground. Thankfully, the shot missed. The phantom's cannons aimed down at the tank and fired a barrage. Despite repeatedly hitting their target, the Covenant forces were going to need a lot more than blasts to destroy the enemy vehicle. The Arbiter, however, saw their chance.

The Arbiter opened the hatch and ran towards the tank.

"Arbiter, what are you doing?" one of the Elites yelled.

The Arbiter ignored him. He had to destroy this tank now. If they waited too long, then the humans would get to the icon and the dream of the Great Journey would be forever lost.

As the Arbiter reached the tank, the main cannon turned towards him. He froze for a second, but realised that he was too close to the tank it to fire on him. The Arbiter climbed onto the tank and ran over to the hatch. He grabbed it and pulled it open. Inside was a small combat form. The Arbiter raised his fist and brought it down on the form's head. The blow was so powerful that it literally caused the Flood form to break apart.

"Nicely done, Arbiter," came Vadumee's voice as the phantom flew off behind the structure.

The Arbiter nodded and jumped down from the tank. The spectre, which had driven across the pathway, pulled up alongside him. The Elite that was sitting next to Wally got out and went back to It's original position. The Arbiter jumped inside the spectre's driving seat and pulled down the hatch. He hovered the vehicle through the gap between the two small rock hills.

"Look, over there!" Wally exclaimed, pointing over to the side of the open area, which was just outside the small structure.

The group looked. Disbelief filled their eyes. It was the remains of a pelican. Scattered around it were several weapons and ammunition and a dead marine. A warthog was also there, lying on It's side against the small hill.

"The humans have already beaten us here!" one of the Elites gasped. "They have beaten us to the icon."

"Not yet, they haven't!" the Arbiter replied in a voice that made him sound like a warrior who despite having the odds stacked against him, he was not going to give up. "If we are quick, we may be able to catch them before they get to the icon."

The Arbiter pushed the controls forward. The spectre moved towards the structure. A large opening was on the side of the front of the building. It led into a large wide bronze coloured corridor with a large open doorway on It's right wall. The Arbiter drove the spectre into the building and up to the doorway. The group got out and ran through the doorway down a corridor and through another open doorway. They went up a ramp and onto an enormous square shaped platform, with a small scanning device in the middle of the platform, that was hovering between a large outside walkway shaped like a U. Far away to the right of the group was another U shaped walkway with a large square shaped platform hovering between it. Far way ahead of them, through the falling snow continuously coming down from the clouds, was the enormous library structure. There was where the icon lay.

"Arbiter," a familiar voice said from, behind the group.

The group turned to see Vadumee running towards them.

"Good work," he said as he reached the platform. "We almost have the icon,"

Suddenly, a loud unlocking sound echoed filled the air. It came from the right. The group of Covenant turned their heads towards the other U shaped platform. Everything was the same over there.., except. The platform was moving!

"More humans?" one of the Elites said. "They're after the icon. They will get there before us!"

Vadumee was about to reply when…

_ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!_

An enormous screech filled the air. It came from the behind the squad. They turned their heads towards the doorway. It was obvious they were Flood, and by the sound of the screech there were lots of them, and they probably were not very far behind.

Vadumee took out an energy sword activator. The deadly energy weapon shot out of the device.

"On your way Arbiter," Vadumee said. "I'll deal with these beasts,"

Vadumee ran over towards the doorway. Within a few seconds he ran down the ramp and disappeared from sight. The Arbiter turned and rested a hand on the scanning device. The unlocking sound echoed throughout the air once again, only this time it was their platform that was moving. The enormous craft jolted slightly before it began to move towards the structure, about a thousand feet away.

As the platform hovered away from the U shaped walkway, a whirring sound filled the air behind them. The group turned to see the phantom hovering not far behind them.

"I see your brave commander did not decide to join you," came Tartarus' voice.

The Arbiter ignored him, though his hand holding the carbine began to shake slightly with anger. Even though Tartarus was on the same side as him, sometimes he just saw him as an enemy and he also sometimes just really wanted to pound his little bear face in. Maybe that would come one day, but now they had to focus on getting the icon before the humans did.

_"I'll watch your back."_ Tartarus said. _"We must not let the humans get to the icon. The hierarchs do not grow kindly on failure,"_

The platform was now about four hundred feet away from the U shaped walkway. The other platform was slightly further ahead of them. For both sides, it was a race to the ultimate prize, which was the icon. One side was eventually going to win, and, unless either the Flood or Tartarus managed to kill them all, it was going to be the humans that would be walking away with the prize.

One of the Elites growled.

"I grow restless without a target!" it said.

"Keep yourself calm!" the Arbiter ordered. "Besides, you will soon be ripping apart human flesh! Just be patient!"

As the platform was about half-way to the library structure, Wally looked over the edge to see the rocky and metal surface far below them. Even though the distance between the platform and the ground was only about two to two thousand five hundred feet below, it looked like it was a mile below. Wally shivered slightly and moved away from the edge of the walkway. He let out his whistle tune, which seemed to fill the air, turning the heads of the Elite towards him. He probably made them jump.

Just as the platform was about two hundred feet from the structure, a loud electronic whirring sound filled the air. The Covenant looked ahead but it was nothing. Wally looked over to the other platform and saw an enormous circular shaped door opening.

"Look," he said, pointing over to the other platform.

The rest of the Covenant squad saw the human controlled platform hover through the enormous doorway. They only just managed to catch a glimpse of a metal environment on the other side of the doorway.

"The Humans are going faster than us!" one of the Elites growled.

"And they have brought a ship with them as well, look," Wally said, pointing up into the sky behind them.

The squad looked to see an enormous shape hovering not far above the structure. It was the _Amber Clad._

"A Human ship," the Arbiter muttered under his breath.

"Should we call in a carrier and have it destroyed?" one of the Elites asked.

"We get the icon first, then we'll deal with the humans," the Arbiter answered.

The electronic whirring sound filled the air once again. The squad looked ahead of them to see the enormous circular shaped door, about a hundred feet in front of them, open up to reveal an enormous circular shaped metal landscape with many walkways coming out of the walls, pillars and metal structures sticking out from the sides and even from the ground. At the end was an enormous wall. Several enormous lights were along the

The platform hovered into the massive cylindrical world. The door behind them closed. Just several hundred feet away to their right were the Elites' rivals. They were at least a hundred feet in front of them. There was one big problem the Elites faced; how many humans were aboard the platform? If there were too many, they may be able to hold them for whoever was in charge to get the icon. The Arbiter raised his carbine and aimed through the scope. Damn! it was too far away to pick let alone see a target even through the scope. The Arbiter lowered his weapon. They were going to have to find another way to kill, or at least beat the humans to the ic-

"Look! Up ahead! The parasite gathers for an attack!" one of the Elites exclaimed.

The Arbiter looked ahead. The Elite was right. On a walkway to the left and about thirty feet above the platform were Flood combat forms. Lots of them. The Arbiter looked through his scope and saw that many of them were armed with various Covenant and humans and possibly even Forerunner weapons. He fired a shot at one of them, but only shooting off part of It's mutated head. That was nowhere near going to be enough to stop the wave of Flood.

As the platform passed underneath the walkway, the Flood combat forms immediately jumped down onto the platform. The Elites fired up at the combat forms, hitting some of them. A few either jumped too fast or not fast enough and fell past the platform to their doom far below.

At once, a gunfight broke out on the platform. Wally dived to the floor to avoid any stray fire. Around him the Elites and the Flood furiously fought each other.

The Arbiter swung his carbine like a baseball bat at a combat form armed with a battle rifle. The weapon easily broke through the Flood's skin and was powerful enough to make the remains fly through the air over the edge of the platform. An Elite, armed with a needler, fired a barrage of purple projectiles at a combat from armed with a plasma rifle. The projectiles embedded themselves into the creature's skin and it fell to the platform floor, dead. The Elite then swung It's needler through the air and hit a combat form, throwing over the side of the platform. The last two Elites stood back-to-back and were mowing down all Flood that tried to attack them, occasionally having to use their weapons or fists to kill a Flood that got too close. The phantom hovering close behind the platform fired a barrage of blasts at the Flood combat forms, each taking out at least half a dozen of Flood.

When the last Flood combat form had been knocked over the side of the platform by the Arbiter, and when Wally had got up from the platform floor, the phantom hovered away from the Covenant platform towards the human platform.

_"Humans!"_ Tartarus growled. _"I'll thin their ranks,"_

"What courage!" one of the Elites said sarcastically. "Nice and safe in his phantom!"

"And going over to the human platform will only alert them to our presence!" another Elite growled.

"Look on the bright side," the Arbiter said. "If we are lucky that the humans have brought anti-air weapons with them, they'll shoot him down,"

The other Elites laughed at the Arbiter's joke. Like I explained earlier, the Elites and the Brutes really loathed each other. Why was unknown, but what was really a mystery was that the prophets managed to get them to stay in the Covenant. The Elites probably loathed the Brutes even more now because they replaced them as the prophet's noble guards.

_ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!_

The squad looked up to see an enormous cloud of brown falling towards them. Wally began to shake with fear and almost looked like he was going to pass out. The enormous cloud above them was infection forms.

Before the squad could even blink, the infection forms landed all around them. At once a barrage of blast fire exploded in the air. The Elites fired everything they had at the infection forms but despite cutting through them quickly and killing one ended up killing loads more they just kept coming in an unstoppable wave. Wally scrambled away from a group of infection forms towards the edge of the platform. When he could go any further, he activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered high above the battle. He was safe, as long as no more infection forms fell down from above and no stray blasts hit him.

"AHHHH!"

Three infections forms landed on the chest of one of the Elites. The Elites screamed and tried to pull them off but it was no use. Purple blood sprayed out from the wounds as the infections ate further into their prey. The Arbiter tried to rush over to help but another group of infection forms landed in front of him. Finally, the Elite could no longer stand and fell forward onto the platform floor, dead. Then, the infection forms ate away at the flesh and burrowed inside the creature. The Arbiter knew what was coming but before he could so much raise his carbine, the Elite's body began to wriggle about as if it had been struck by a tazer. Then, large bulges broke through the armour and spread around the outside of the Elite's skin. Tentacles grew out from the creature's face and hands. The creature then stood up. The Elite was now a combat form.

"By the rings!" one of the other Elites said as it fired a shot at an infection form, killing it. "The parasite has evolved further!"

The combat form growled and charged towards the Arbiter. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired two shots at the creature. It was hit and fell to the floor, dead. The Arbiter then swung his weapon high above his head and brought it down onto the body of his former comrade, destroying it completely.

As the last infection form was killed, Wally hovered down onto the platform. The Elites, however, did not seem to notice him. Instead, they were all glaring at the phantom as it hovered back over to them.

"You could have helped us, Tartarus!" one of the Elites growled. "We lost one of our comrades because you were not here to help! And to make things worse, you've probably now alerted the humans to our presence!"

_"Oh shut your jaws!"_ Tartarus barked. "_It was a good thing I went over to the human platform anyway. I have seen the human ship commander and a high ranking sergeant over there on the platform,"_

"So there's a human ship commander and high ranking sergeant on the platform,"one of the Elites said. "What makes it so amusing or shocking of however you put it?" the Elite asked.

_"Because the demon is over there with them!" _Tartarus answered.

At these words, the entire group went silent. Outside they were filled with shock but inside, their anger began to boil over. The Arbiter's hands began to shake with anger. His carbine even almost fell out of his hands. The demon! Here! No! The Arbiter had a score to settle with her. For destroying the Sacred Ring, for making him lose his valuable position in the Covenant and for killing one of the prophets and making the Elites lose their honourable place among the Covenant.

"I will kill her when we stop!" he growled, tightening his grip on the carbine.

Wally, however, was completely confused. Who was this demon they were talking about? Was it a former member of their Covenant? Or was it an old enemy? It was probably an old enemy because he had been told about the war between the Covenant and humanity.

Wally walked over to the Arbiter.

"Um… who are you… talking about?" he asked him.

The Arbiter turned to face him.

"The demon," the Arbiter answered. "You have not heard of her?"

So it was a female they were talking about.

"No," Wally replied.

"The demon is a human female who destroyed the Sacred Ring," the Arbiter explained, adding a low and dangerous tone to his voice as if he were speaking to the demon herself.

"Not only that, she has killed one of our noble prophets and made us lose our honourable place among the Covenant!" one of the other Elites added in an angry tone. "We will make her pay,"

The Arbiter turned away from Wally and walked towards the front edge of the platform. They were now about a hundred feet from the enormous wall. The platform jolted slightly as it began to ascend up some kind of enormous passageway. The human platform was about one hundred feet ahead of them. It was obvious that they were going to get to wherever the stopping point for the platforms was first but would the Arbiter and the Elites be able to catch them in time.

Wally, however, was rooted to the spot. His mind was racing. A human female who destroyed the Sacred Ring! The only ring he could think of was Halo. And the only human female he could remember… was Eve. Oh no! He was with her when they destroyed the ring! They were going to kill her! He had to save her, but how? He could not suddenly fly over to the other platform and warn them because for one thing, they would probably mistake him for Covenant and fire on him. And another thing, the Covenant would kill him. Wally cared little for his own life, just as long as Eve was saved.

As the Covenant platform continued on up the side of the enormous passageway, along with the phantom that was hovering nearby, the human platform suddenly stopped and disappeared behind the top of the enormous wall. The Arbiter clutched his carbine tighter.

They are getting further ahead of us! he thought angrily. But they will not escape!

Wally, on the other hand, was praying that they would either go faster or go slower. Either way would at least keep Eve out of danger for a few moments and, hopefully, give him enough time to warn her. The only problem was her platform was neither going faster or slowing down. Wally began to panic. He had to warn Eve, but how?

A few moments later, the Covenant platform reached the top of the wall and moved forward into another enormous cylindrical shaped world. Several walkways were hovering several metres in the air both sides of the platforms. At the end, about two hundred feet ahead, was another large wall. However. A small pathway was running along the side of it and both ends went into the wall.

A hundred feet to their right ahead of them was the human platform. It was heading towards another pathway further down the enormous wall. The Arbiter growled. His carbine began to shake in his hands. He even raised it slightly as if he was going to be able to shoot the humans even though his platform was too far away. Oh how he wished he could shoot them or at least appear over there. This was personal. He had an old score to settle with the demon and when he got hold of her, he was going to make her **pay**!

_ROOOOAAAAAARRRRR!_

The group looked up to see a large group of combat forms falling down towards the platform. They seemed to appear from mid-air, a good way on surprise attacking your enemy. Luckily, some of the combat forms fell down either too early or too late and fell past the walkways to the metal floor that seemed like miles below.

"Ready yourselves!" the Arbiter ordered. "The parasite will not stop us!"

The squad obeyed and quickly checked and/or reloaded their weapons. Moments later, the wave of Flood descended upon them. Wally activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered several feet into the air

The Arbiter was thrown to the floor, causing him to drop his carbine, as an Elite combat form jumped down from the walkway and struck him across the chest with It's tentacle hand. His armour's shield lit up. The combat form raised It's arm to strike the Arbiter again. However, the Elite was quick to react and struck the combat form in the legs The creature fell to the floor. The Arbiter then, quickly, grabbed his carbine and fired two bursts of ammo at the combat form, shooting off the flabby part on the top of It's head and fully killing it.

Around him, the Arbiter comrades were fighting hard as well against the Flood. One of the Elites swung his plasma rifle like a baseball bat at a combat form, smashing the creature's body into a million pieces and throwing the remains over the edge of the platform to the metal floor far below. The other two Elites stood back-to-back and were easily ripping apart any combat forms that attacked them.

Suddenly, a loud THUD drew everyone's attention. A carrier had fallen from above and landed on the platform. What was worse, it had fallen over and was now expanding as if it were being inflated by a bicycle pump. Then…

BOOM! The carrier exploded into a million pieces, throwing the rotten and mutated flesh of the creature across the platform. From the remains came a swarm of five infection forms. One jumped onto one of the Elites that was standing back-to-back. Luckily, the Elite grabbed the infection form and crushed it before It's deadly mouth could break through the Elite's flesh and infect him. The Arbiter raised his carbine and fired two shots from it, hitting another infection form and causing it, along with another, to explode like a balloon. Two light blue blasts from the plasma rifle of one of the Elites killed the last two infection forms.

_"The humans are already inside!"_ Tartarus exclaimed as Wally hovered back down onto the platform.

The group looked towards the human platform. Tartarus was right! The human platform had stopped alongside a pathway that led inside the wall. The Arbiter clutched his weapon tighter ad growled slightly. They had made it to the icon first. No matter. He would get the icon and enjoy ripping apart the humans' flesh, especially the demon.

_"Quickly! After them!"_ Tartarus ordered. _"I'll watch the perimeter and make sure the humans do not try to slip out!"_

A few seconds later, the platform jolted slightly as it stopped alongside the pathway that led into the wall.

"Behold, the library of our lords!" one of the Elites exclaimed, raising his arms as if he were to embrace the wall.

The Arbiter walked off the platform onto the pathway.

"Stay here!" he said to the group, not turning to look at them. "You must protect this transport."

"But Arbiter," one of the Elites piped up. "You do not know how many humans there are!"

"That does not matter!" the Arbiter replied, still not turning to face the group. "The icon is my responsibility! Only I can bring it back to the prophets. Besides, I have a personal score to settle."

The Elites looked furious. They wanted to be known as the ones who helped retrieve the sacred icon. However, they were not to disobey their commander's orders, even if it was for something incredible. The Elites nodded and spread out across the platform, ready to fend off an attack if one came.

The Arbiter clutched his weapon tightly. He was about to continue when a hand rested on his shoulder. The Arbiter turned to see it was Wally.

"I need to come with you," he said.

The Arbiter pushed Wally's hand off his shoulder.

"You have done enough, holy oracle," he replied. "I must go in alone."

"You cannot," Wally said, grabbing the Arbiter's shoulder. "I need to come with you,"

"Why?" the Arbiter asked.

"Because…?" Wally began but quickly trailed off. He had to come up with an answer quickly. "Because… Because I know… the way to where the 'icon' is… And I know where any sentinel producers will be so I can guide you through safely,"

The Arbiter sighed through gritted teeth. He could not easily argue back with Wally's answer. But it meant the Arbiter would have to protect him. Wally was a holy oracle and if he was killed then the Arbiter, even if he had managed to get the icon, would be executed. He sighed again.

"Very well," the Arbiter said. "You may come," The Arbiter leaned forward so his face was just inches from Wally's. "But you stay near me and you listen to me, understood?" he whispered dangerously.

Wally nodded.

The Arbiter turned and walked down the pathway towards the end; Wally followed. The two turned and found themselves in a narrow pathway that led to a wide open corridor at the end. The Arbiter ran down the pathway to the end, Wally right behind him.

The two emerged from the narrow pathway into the corridor. It was a curved-like room with several large half-rectangular shaped objects along both walls. Forerunner markings were engraved into the floor, walls and the ceiling.

The Arbiter raised his carbine and, cautiously, walked down the corridor; Wally followed. As the two were about to turn into a left curve, the Arbiter suddenly stopped. Wally bumped into him.

"What is it?" Wally asked.

"Up ahead," the Arbiter answered, pointing ahead on the floor.

Wally looked ahead and saw why the Arbiter had stopped. Scattered around on the floor were several bodies, Human marine bodies. Much of the floor around them was covered in red. Their weapons were also scattered across the floor. Each had a pile of bullets on the floor near the weapon. It was obvious there had been a battle here, but who were the humans fighting.

_HIIIIIISSSSSSSSS_

The Arbiter raised his carbine, keeping his finger just mere millimetres from the trigger. Then, several small shapes moved out from behind one of half rectangular shaped objects towards the two. Infection forms. The Arbiter fired a shot from his carbine, hitting one of the infections forms and causing it to explode. The rest of the swarm quickly followed.

"The Humans must be close," the Arbiter said. "Stay close to me, oracle,"

The Arbiter ran down the corridor; Wally followed. The two ran down the left curve and into another corridor. A wall about fifty feet ahead brought the corridor to an end. The Arbiter and Wally ran down the corridor towards the end.

Wally suddenly stopped. On the left wall next to them was a small diamond shaped doorway that led into a small diamond shaped corridor. At the end was a large room with several large piles of metallic remains scattered on the room's floor.

"The icon must be down there," the Arbiter said.

The Elite ran down the corridor towards the room at the other end; Wally followed. The two emerged from the corridor into a large cylindrical tunnel shaped room with four enormous pillars stretching down from the ceiling, about two hundred feet above them, to the darkness of the tunnel far below them. A small pathway led from the tunnel to a circular shaped platform in the middle of the room. Scattered around It's surface were several enforcer remains. The Arbiter scanned the room, searching for the icon but there was no sign of it.

"I will search for the icon," the Arbiter said. He turned to Wally. "Get down behind that pile of enforcer remains…" the Arbiter pointed over to a small pile of enforcer remains, which was just big enough for someone to hide behind, near the edge of the platform next to the pathway, "And stay there. Do not leave unless I return or I am killed. If I am, then you are to go and get help."

Wally nodded. The Arbiter turned and walked up the pathway towards the platform. Wally crept after him. A few seconds later, he ducked down behind the enforcer's remains and watched the Arbiter as he activated his armour camouflage and disappeared almost completely into thin air.

Wally had now managed to separate himself from the Arbiter. But now he had to find Eve and warn her. The only problem was how was he going to get to her without alerting the Arbiter. If the Arbiter knew he was a friend of Eve, then he would kill him. And Eve would be even more vulnerable and could most likely die! No. Wally had to find a way to save her before the Arbiter got to her first. Right now, her life mattered more than his.

Hovering over the edge of the platform, on the other side of it, was a small black cylindrical object with eight small cubes, four on both sides of the object. Every few seconds, they would move around from one side of the object to the other. A long thin green line went from the top of the object to the bottom, on both the front and the back.

A few feet away on the surface of the platform, a human walked towards the edge. It was a woman with brown hair, brown eyes, soft cheeks and a small nose. She was wearing a silver high ranking UNSC uniform. It was Mary.

Mary had ordered the Amber Clad to be flown directly to the library once they knew what the Covenant were after on this ring. They had fought hard against the Flood and several sentinels and, just a few minutes, had just come off a platform that had brought her and a squad of marines here. Two of her marines, however, had been killed on the platform by Flood and the Covenant phantom. Three more marines had been ordered to stand guard outside in the corridor. Hopefully, neither the Flood or the Covenant, if there were any of them, had not followed them here.

Mary stopped just next to the platform's edge. The object was too far ahead for her to reach out and grab it. She had to find a way to grab the Index. Mary scanned the surrounding piles of metallic waste. Her eyes rested on something on a small pile about three feet from her. It stood out perfectly from the metal. It was a long and thick rope-like thing with a green top and an orangey/red bottom. It looked like a tentacle. If it was then what the hell was a tentacle doing here among this pile of rubble?

Mary shook that thought out of her mind and walked over to the tentacle. She grabbed it and walked towards the edge. It was quite long and might just be long enough for Mary to lean over the edge of the platform and grab the Index.

As Mary reached the edge of the platform, she pressed down with her feet and leant forward towards the Index. She was careful not to lean forward too quickly otherwise she would fall to her death, if the tentacle was not somehow connected to something in the pile it was coming from. Mary fingers were just inches from the object. Okay so far, so good. Just a little more. Mary, dangerously, leant forward further. Her fingertips could just about touch the top of the Index. Almost there.

Then, the cubes around the side of the object suddenly stopped and pushed in towards the middle of the object, making the green line even thinner. A second later, a capitol T-like object, with a thin green line going down both the front and back of it, rose from the top of the black object.

"Gotcha," Mary said as her fingers closed around the Index.

She had the Index. Now all she and the marines had to do was get out of the library and get back to the Amber Cla-

Suddenly, Mary was falling away from the platform. The tentacle! She was still clutching it but it was not connected to anything in the pile it was coming from! It was completely loose! Mary gasped at the sudden fall, knowing that death had come for her at last.

It never came.

Suddenly, Mary halted in mid-air. She looked up to see that she was about ten feet below the platform's edge. Standing on the edge, clutching the tentacle, was John.

"You know, your father never asked me for help either!" he said, grunting slightly as he was having to use all his strength to hold the tentacle and prevent it from falling over the edge.

"Thanks John," Mary said as she placed the Index on a small square shaped device the size of the palm of a human's hand on her belt. A magnetic force pulled the Index onto the square shaped device's surface and held it there. "The Index is secure. Let's get out of here,"

"If I can pull you up, then we can leave," John grunted as he tried with all his might to pull the tentacle onto the platform.

"Good thing you have me here," a woman behind John said.

John looked over his shoulder to see Eve standing a few feet behind him. She set her battle rifle down on the floor and grabbed the tentacle. She and John then pulled with all their might and lifted Mary back on the platform.

"Thanks," Mary said.

John took hold of a radio on his chest and held it up to his lips.

"Perez," he said. "We've got the Index. How's our exit?"

No response.

"You hear me marines?" John said, hoping for a reply.

Still no response. John placed the radio back onto his chest and picked up his battle rifle that he set down on the floor.

"We got trouble," he said to Mary and Eve. "I'd ready yourselves just in case,"

The two girls nodded. Eve picked up two SMG's (Sub-Machine Guns) and handed them to Mary before picking up her battle rifle. The three raised their weapons and walked towards the pathway, with Eve in front, then John and then Mary, that led onto the platform. What the hell had happened to their squad? And if they were dead, who, or what, killed them?

"Who do you think killed them?" Auto asked Eve.

"Probably the Flood," Eve answered. "But that phantom we met earlier means that the Covenant could be here looking for the Index as well,"

"Let's just hope we get out of here before they arr-"

BANG! A burst of ammo exploded in the room. John had fired a burst of ammo at a small pile of enforcer wreckage. Eve and Mary looked but saw nothing.

"What the matter?" Eve asked John.

"I saw something move," John answered.

"What do we do?" Mary asked.

"Split up," John answered, whispering just in case they had been followed. "We'll be a lot harder to kill if we're separated from each other. Yell if you get attacked."

John ran ahead down the middle of the platform towards a small pile of enforcer wreckage. Mary ran left and disappeared behind another pile of metallic waste. Eve ran right behind a long pile of wreckage that was just next to the platform's edge. She was on her own.

"Do you think It's Flood?" Auto asked her.

"No," Eve answered. "If it was, then it, or they, would come charging out after us. It's got to be Covenant. The only question is how many and what aliens are they?"

Eve crept along the edge of the platform. She could see the walkway about twenty feet ahead. Good. Now all she had to do was meet up with John and Mary at the pathway. Eve walked forward towards the room's exit, determined to get out of here as quickly as possible.

TAP! Eve raised her battle rifle and held her finger just millimetres from the trigger. She took a deep breath and cautiously stepped forward. The tap came from somewhere ahead of her. Eve stepped forward again, moving her battle rifle sideways and up to make sure there was nothing waiting to surprise her.

"AAAAHHH!"

Eve screamed and fell to the platform's floor, dropping her battle rifle. A figure fell on top of her. Instantly, Eve pushed the figure into the wreckage next to her and grabbed her battle rifle. She aimed it at the figure, keeping her finger on the trigger.

"Who are you?" she whispered dangerously, pushing the barrel of the weapon against the flesh of the figure.

"Eve?" a voice said from inside the wreckage.

Eve's eyes went wide. The figure knew her name! How? She would find that out in a minute. Eve grabbed the figure and pulled it up from the wreckage slightly. Eve gasped and dropped her battle rifle and Auto whispered "It can't be,"

It was Wally.

Eve just stared at Wally as if he were a ghost. Wally placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Eve," he said. "It's me,"

Before Wally could blink, Eve embraced him tightly. Wally hugged her tightly as well.

Tears ran down Eve's cheeks. She was so happy to see him. He was supposed to be dead. The last time she had seen Wally was when he had thrown her onto the long sword fighter on the Axiom to save her. He had sacrificed his life to save hers and Auto's. But yet, he had cheated death… and lived.

After a few seconds, the two let go of each other.

"Wally…" Eve began, but quickly trailed off. "I… We. Me and Auto… We… We thought you were dead,"

"No," Wally replied. "I still don't know how I lived. But, that does not matter now. You and Auto made it out and your safe. That is all I really need to know,"

"Eve!" someone exclaimed from behind.

The two turned to see John and Mary standing at the end of the pathway Eve had taken along the edge of the platform. They stared at Wally.

"Who's this?" John asked Eve.

"This is Wally," Eve answered. "Remember… He's the monitor I told you about when we were on the _Cairo_. This is the person who helped me and Auto get off Halo,"

"Oh," John said, lowering his weapon. He tried to smile but it was hard since this strange person had just suddenly shown himself. "Well… Uh, pleased to meet you Wally,"

John walked forward and held up a hand but Wally stared at it.

"Umm… Is something supposed to happen?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah, your supposed to grab my hand and shake it," John answered.

Wally held his hand and grabbed hold of John's hand and shook it.

"There we go," John said, letting go of Wally's hand. "And this Mary," he added, moving aside as Mary walked over to him.

"Hi," Mary greeted as she held up her hand

"Hello," Wally replied as he shook Mary's hand.

Mary let go of Wally's hand.

"So Wally," Eve said. "Why are you here?" she asked him.

"I came to warn you," Wally answered. "The Arbiter, he-"

CRASH! The wall of enforcer remains seemed to explode, throwing large pieces of it everywhere. Wally, Mary and John were quick to dive back out of the way. Eve, however, was hit in the side by a large piece of what may have been part of an enforcer's back leg and fell over the side of the platform. Thankfully, she grabbed hold of the side of the platform. Once the remains had stopped flying, Wally helped Eve back up onto the platform.

"Thanks," Eve said.

"Oracle!" a voice growled.

Eve and Wally looked towards the new gap in the wall of metallic waste to see the Arbiter standing there. He was clutching his carbine in one hand and had his other hand clenched into a fist. He had a furious look on his face. The oracle had betrayed him! Well, to hell with the prophets' orders to protect the oracle! He was going to kill Wally.

Then, the Arbiter noticed the person with Wally and his gaze fell upon her. It was a woman in a white bodysuit. The Arbiter's eyes grew wide as if they had seen something shocking. Then, they narrowed.

"You!" the Elite whispered dangerously. "You, demon, will pay for what you've done to me,"

Suddenly, before Eve could raise her battle rifle, the Arbiter raised his carbine and fired a shot at Eve, hitting her in the stomach. Her shield lit up but even through her protective bodysuit, Eve was winded by the impact. Wally grabbed Eve by the waist and hovered up into the air with her before landing in the middle of the platform.

"You alright?" Wally asked Eve as they set down on the platform's surface.

Eve nodded.

"You saved my life," she said, breathing deeply to try and get her breath back.

"Just like old times," Auto said through his com.

"Are you guys okay?" John asked as he and Mary ran up to them.

"Yeah, we're fine," Eve answered, straightening up.

"Who the hell was that?" Mary asked.

"That was the Arbiter," Wally answered. "He was sent here to get the Index for his leaders known as holy prophets,"

"They must be trying to activate the ring," Eve said. "We need to get ourselves and the Index out of here,"

"AAAHHH!"

Suddenly, John was hurled off his feet and onto a small pile of enforcer remains about twenty feet away. He groaned as he got up. Then, the outline of a figure became visible in front of him. John looked up to see the Arbiter, who was unarmed, standing over him.

The Arbiter grabbed John by the arms and held him up to his face. His face was radiating with anger.

"How you doing?" Johnson asked in a low tone.

The Arbiter growled, knowing that Johnson was mocking him. Then, his head slammed into John's, knocking him out cold. A small trickle of blood seeped from cheek from where part of the Arbiter's face armour had cut into it. The Arbiter dropped the unconscious human on the floor.

"Sergeant!" Mary shouted, causing the Arbiter to turn to face her. Mary and Eve had their weapons raised. "Stay down!"

A barrage of gunfire exploded in the room. The Arbiter's shield lit up. He ran right behind a pile of metallic waste. Eve ran after him. Mary lowered her weapons and ran over to John's motionless body.

"John, are you alright?" she asked as she knelt down beside him. Mary grabbed his shoulders and shook him slightly. "John?"

"Mary, look out!" Wally shouted suddenly.

THUD! Mary's eyes went wide. Someone was behind her! And judging by the loudness of the thud, it was going to be obvious who it was. Mary slowly turned to see the Arbiter standing over her like some sort of feared leader. The Arbiter swung his arm and knocked the two SMG's right out of Mary's hands.

"Give me the icon!" he growled at her.

"Your going to have to kill me first to get it!" Mary hissed back, trying not to be scared but it was hard to hide it.

The Arbiter let out a low chuckle.

"Very well," he said.

Mary gasped and backed away as the Arbiter stepped towards her, only to stop after a few feet by the pile of enforcer remains. The Arbiter let out another low chuckle. He was going to enjoy killing her.

Suddenly, a ball of electricity surrounded Mary. The Arbiter was stunned and stepped back a few paces as he watched the human shake violently as if she were getting an electric shock, which, in a way, she was. Then Mary was lifted several feet into the air and pulled, as if she had been thrown, in the direction of the pathway. There, she landed on the shoulder of an enormous creature with white fur, huge bulging muscles and skin like a rhino. It was Tartarus. In his left hand was the deadly Fist of Rukt he had used to capture Wally.

"Excellent work, Arbiter," he said as he placed his other arm over Mary's unconscious body, preventing any hope of her to escape. "The prophets will be pleased,"

Tartarus set his Fist of Rukt down on the floor and grabbed hold of the Index. He easily separated it from the magnetic device on Mary's belt. He held it up as if it were a gift from the gods.

"The sacred icon is now within our possession," he said. "Now we can begin the Great Journey. I will take this to the prophets when we arrived back at High Charity."

"The icon is my responsibility," the Arbiter growled.

Tartarus chuckled and turned his head towards the Elite.

"It was your responsibility," he told the Elite. "Now it is mine,"

A large figure walked out from behind the piles of metallic waste. A Brute. It grabbed John's motionless body with one hand and dragged him towards the pathway. As he passed Tartarus, he opened out his other arm. The Brute chieftain placed the unconscious Mary on the Brute's shoulder and picked up his Fist of Rukt with both hands. His gaze the fell on Wally.

"So, our holy oracle has made friends with our enemies," Tartarus said. "It's a shame I'm going to have to kill you, oracle. I really wanted to learn more about the rings from one of your kind." he raised the Fist of Rukt, aiming it at Wally. "Oh well, maybe there will be another who will follow his directive in protecting the sacred ring instead of destroying them,"

The Arbiter turned his head towards Wally.

"You helped the demon destroy the sacred ring?" he asked in a hissing voice.

"It is true," Wally replied. "I was not going to let it destroy all life in this galaxy,"

The Arbiter growled and went to walk towards him. He was seething with anger and he wasted to rip Wally apart. He was supposed to be a holy oracle and protect the ring, not destroy them!

"You stay where you are!" Tartarus growled, halting the Arbiter.

"You dare tell me what to do?" the Arbiter growled, turning his head towards Tartarus.

"Silence, Arbiter!" Tartarus shouted. "Or I shall rip in two." Tartarus then turned back to Wally. "Remember my Fist of Rukt, oracle?" he said. "Well, it will be the last thing you ever see. Goodbye,"

"You leave him alone!" a woman's voice hissed.

Tartarus, Wally and the Arbiter turned towards the pile of metallic waste the Arbiter had ran behind moments earlier. Eve stepped out from behind it, her battle rifle raised and her finger on the trigger. She walked over to Wally, keeping her eyes focused on the two Covenant in front of her

"You!" Tartarus growled, turning his weapon towards her. "I'm glad you're here, demon. It will make me more famous in the Covenant when I kill you!"

"You will not touch her!" the Arbiter growled, stepping into the Fist of Rukt's firing path. "I am the one who has suffered because of the demon's actions. I will kill her, not you!"

Tartarus laughed.

"You are just the Arbiter," he said. "If you think killing the demon and getting the icon back to High Charity will win you back your place in the Covenant, you are wrong! The prophets have wanted you dead all along, Arbiter. Take your mission to the gas mine on Threshold, for example. We could have easily blown up the station with one of our ships, but they wanted to send you to kill the heretics but they also hoped you would die in the process. Even your mission here, they have been expecting to receive a report that you have been killed. Do you not see, the hierarchs want you dead! Now if you will move so I can kill the demon,"

"If you know so much about the prophets and their mission to kill the Arbiter, then maybe you could enlighten me on why your coalition has attacked us for no reason!" Eve said.

Tartarus chuckled.

"For no reason?" he repeated to Eve. "We have many reasons for our holy war against your kind, demon. Firstly is because you have desecrated worlds visited by the Forerunners with your filthy footsteps and your pathetic cities and culture. And yet you continued to spread across more Forerunner worlds, no matter what they were. You even changed the landscape of the planets themselves, destroying holy artefacts the Forerunners left behind."

"However," Tartarus went on. "The real reason we want to destroy your race is because shortly before the war with you began, we came into contact with you via one of your resource ships running into a Jackal pirate ship. We agreed to make negotiations on the world what you called Umeda. However, the prophets called for a meeting of all Brute generals and told them that there were beings close to the Forerunners on that world and whilst we were to make negotiations with you, they would find out more about these beings. Then, when we met with your people on Umeda, the prophets alerted us that these Forerunner beings were in fact your kind."

Eve went wide eyed and almost dropped her battle rifle. She was… Was Forerunner? No, it cannot be true.

"As you know," Tartarus continued. "We worship the Forerunners and anything to do with them. However, the prophets saw your kind as pathetic and defiling. So they told all of the Covenant that you were an affront to the Forerunners and you must be destroyed, but kept secret with us Brutes, and us only, that you were the real Forerunner beings. So after the order was issued, we destroyed your people on Umeda and thus began the war." Tartarus concluded.

Eve was filled with shock. So much of it that she actually dropped her battle rifle. She felt like she was going to pass out. Wally was also filled with shock. Eve was a Forerunner. She was what his creators had left behind?

But they were not the only ones who were filled with shock. The Arbiter was completely speechless. All this time they had been fighting the beings the Forerunners had left behind. The Covenant was supposed to worship the Forerunners, but instead they had been killing what they had left behind in the humans.

Then, anger began to fill the Arbiter's heart. But it was not to be directed at Eve or Wally. It was directed at Tartarus, the Brutes and the prophets. The Arbiter turned his head towards Tartarus and clenched his hands into fists.

"The prophets have tricked the Covenant, Tartarus!" he said to the Brute chieftain. "You are one of the Covenant and yet you knew about the humans being Forerunners, but you did nothing and allowed this laughter to continue! My race helped form the Covenant. Were it not for us, you race would still be sweltering on your cesspool planet!"

"Silence, Arbiter!" Tartarus ordered. He aimed his Fist of Rukt at the Elite. "There will be three new kills to me in this very room. And that includes you, Arbiter!"

The Arbiter's eyes went wide. Tartarus… was going to kill him. But his shock was quickly replaced with anger and fury.

"You will not get away with, Tartarus!" he growled.

"Oh, I think I will," Tartarus replied. "You see, Arbiter, your ousting of guarding the prophets has revealed how stressful and threatening you are to the Covenant. So the prophets have ordered us to take command of all fleets and become the new leaders of squads on the battlefield. But in just moments from now, when enough of my Brutes are in position, I will give the signal, which is killing you, to commence the destruction of your council members and your very race!"

The Arbiter growled. Wally and Eve went wide eyed.

"A civil war," Eve whispered. "They're going to destroy themselves!"

"Now even though we're enemies with the Covenant, that's not good," Auto replied.

Tartarus took aim at the Arbiter's heart.

"A bloody fate awaits you and the rest of your incompetent race," Tartarus said. "And I, Tartarus, chieftain of the Brutes, will send you all to it!"

"When the prophets learn of this, Tartarus, they will take your head," the Arbiter said, growling slightly.

Tartarus laughed.

"When they learn?" he repeated. He laughed again. "You're a fool, Arbiter. The hierarchs do not need to learn of this. They already know. In fact, they ordered me to do it,"

The Arbiter's eyes went wide. The prophets were ordering the destruction of the Elites. No this could not be true. It cannot be true!

Before the Arbiter could blink, Tartarus fired a ball of electricity at the Elite. It came so fats that when it hit the Arbiter, he was actually lifted off his feet and hurled over the edge of the platform towards the tunnel's darkness far below.

Eve and Wally watched this in total shock. They turned their heads back towards Tartarus, who now had his weapon aimed at them.

"Goodbye demon," he said.

Another ball of electricity flew out of the Fist of Rukt. Like the Arbiter, Eve was lifted off her feet and hurled over the edge of the platform, following the same fate as the Arbiter.

"NOOO!" Wally yelled as he watched Eve disappear.

Wally went to activate his anti-gravity boots, but another ball of electricity hit him in the back. His eyes went wide and his breathing stopped. Then, he slumped forward onto the platform floor, dead.

Far below him, Eve continued to fall down the tunnel. Within seconds, she disappeared into the darkness at the bottom.


	15. Gravemind

Darkness. This place was filled with it. Eve groggily opened her eyes, but something was covering her vision. What was it? And why was she moving about as if she was in mid-air. Then it hit her. She was mid-air, but what was holding her up was the real question?

Suddenly, whatever was covering Eve's face moved. A light in, well wherever she was, blinded her. Eve could not cover her face with her arms because whatever had wrapped around her waist had also wrapped around her chest as well. She moved her face away from the light until her eyes got used to it.

Everything that happened on the platform. She was with John and Mary. They had retrieved the Index… Then Wally turned up. Then there was the fight with the Arbiter. John got captured… Mary got captured and that big alien explained how the war began and about the Covenant prophets ordering the Elites to be killed. Then she was hit by something and, well that was it. Eve had to get out of here and find and rescue John, Mary and Wally.

It was then she noticed something big below her. She could easily make out the floor of the tunnel, but the big thing was covering most of it. Eve's eyes followed the big thing to the middle of the floor. There, she saw a large mutated growth covering most of the floor. It was huge. Bigger than anything Eve had ever seen like that. Coming out of the sides of the growth were many large tentacles which spread up the walls for about one hundred feet. Hundreds of smaller tentacles came out the large tentacles.

Eve's eyes then followed a large stem-like thing, that was also a growth, which was also about one hundred feet tall. Then, her eyes stopped at the top of the stem. They went wide and Eve almost screamed.

The top of the stem was a huge mouth! Two large shovel-shaped growths stuck out of the sides of the mouth, one on each side. Both were horribly mutilated enough to almost make Eve throw up. The top and bottom of the mouth were also horribly mutilated and had large stone-like teeth stuck to them in the inside of the mouth. Many small holes were lined up and down the stem, all were horribly mutilated and there was even large chunks of rotting hanging from the creature.

"What… The Hell… Is that?" Auto asked, almost completely breath taken.

The creature must have had some kind of power to hear Auto because as soon as he finished talking, it responded immediately.

**"I…?" **

It's voice sent a chill down Eve's spine. It felt like some kind of demon as if it were the devil himself speaking. And every time the thing spoke, a light brown cloud would come out of It's mouth.

**"I am a monument to all your sins,"**

A loud grunt drew Eve's attention. She looked to see two small tentacles bringing another being towards her. As the being got closer, she saw it was the Arbiter. So he had survived as well. One of the tentacles had wrapped around his arm whilst the other had wrapped itself around his legs up to his stomach. Even though it was hopeless, the Arbiter fought desperately to free himself from the creatures' tentacles. The tentacles held the Arbiter in mid-air a few metres from Eve.

"Relax," Eve said, stopping the Arbiter's squirming and causing him to look at her. "I'd rather not piss this thing off,"

"Demon," the Arbiter growled before looking at the creature.

The creature made a several loud huffing sounds. They sounded like someone breathing heavily but also struggling to breathe at the same time. It was spine chilling. The Arbiter continued to squirm to free himself but it was hopeless. He was not going to get away from this creature very easily.

The mouth of the creature then moved towards Eve. She saw this and went wide eyed, believing the thing was about to eat her. She began to squirm and kick but, like the Arbiter, it was hopeless. The tentacles were too strong. The mouth got closer. Eve closed her eyes and waited for the teeth of the creature to clamp down onto her and break her apart.

They never did.

**"This one is but flesh and faith,"** the creature said. Eve opened her eyes to see the mouth about fifty feet from her. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief that she was not going to be eaten, for the moment at least. **"But it is more the deluded,"**

The cloud of brown flew out of the creature's mouth towards Eve. When it was about ten feet from her, the tentacles moved away from the cloud. The creature then turned towards the Arbiter.

**"This one is also but flesh and faith,"** the creature said, again blowing out another cloud of brown and moving the struggling Arbiter away from it. **"But has It's mind concluded like that of a machine," **

The creature turned the Arbiter upside down for a few seconds before turning upright again.

"Kill me or release me, parasite," the Elite growled. "But do not waste my time with talk,"

**"There is much talk."** the creature said. **"And I have listened through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk and you shall listen,"**

The creature retreated towards the back of the tunnel. Two tentacles, that were both slightly larger than the ones holding Eve and the Arbiter, came out of the darkness. One was holding a human man with blonde hair and he was quite heavily built. He was dressed in a dark blue bodysuit engraved with Forerunner markings. The other tentacle was holding something else. As it got closer, Eve almost threw up. The other tentacle was holding an alien San 'Shyuum inside it. An arm stuck out of one side of the tentacle whilst a mutilated back stuck out of the other side of the tentacle. The alien was instantly recognizable. It was Regret.

The first tentacle came to within fifteen feet of Eve. The man in the bodysuit had the tentacle wrapped around his chest down to his legs. He looked up at Eve and the Arbiter, revealing a part of the tentacle that had gone over his eye, covering it completely. His other eye's iris was red. Why Eve or the Arbiter could not explain.

"Greetings!" he said. "I am 2401 Penitent Tangent. I am the monitor of Installation 05,"

"And I am the prophet of Regret," Regret shouted. His voice was slightly croaked, as if his throat had been crushed. "Councillor most High… Hierarch of the Covenant."

Regret, like the Arbiter, squirmed and waved his arm about. As he moved sideways, the back of his cranium became visible. It was stuck to the tentacle. Eve had to look away to stop herself from throwing up. It was going to be harder for him to escape the creature, which was certainly not going to happen, than it would be for Eve and the Arbiter because he was stuck inside the tentacle. He looked like some kind of mutant creature from a horror movie trying to escape his captors.

Tangent looked towards Eve. His eye lit up, as if noticing her for the first time.

"A Reclaimer?" he exclaimed. "This is fantastic! We have much to do! This facility must be activated if we are to control this outbreak!"

"You stay where you are!" Regret ordered, drawing Eve's, Tangent's and the Arbiter's eyes towards him. "Nothing can be done until my sermon is complete!"

"Not true!" Tangent replied. "This installation has a successful utilization record of 1.2 trillion simulated and one actual. It is ready to fire on demand."

Regret growled. His eyes relentlessly travelled around the room. Very quickly they stopped on the Arbiter.

"Arbiter!" he exclaimed. "Can you believe this? Of all the objects our Lords left behind, there are none so worthless as these Oracles! THEY KNOW NOTHING OF THE GREAT JOURNEY!"

"And you know nothing about containment!" Tangent shouted back. "You have demonstrated a complete disregard to even the most basic protocols!"

**"Enough!"**

The arguing between Tangent and Regret ceased immediately. They turned their heads towards the creature as it appeared out of the darkness once again.

**"You have squabbled long enough!"** the creature said. **"You have been useful, but I no longer have any need for you anymore!" **

Eve and the Arbiter watched in horror as the creature opened It's enormous mouth. It had no tongue but endless rows of stone-like teeth and enormous holes inside It's mouth. The creature moved It's two tentacles holding Tangent and Regret towards It's jaws. Tangent screamed. Regret yelped and squirmed violently to try and break free. But it was no use.

CRUNCH! Eve looked away and wished she could cover her ears as Tangent and Regret, who just metres away from the creatures' mouth had been pushed out of the tentacle before being grabbed by it again, were crushed and torn apart by the stone-like teeth. The crunching of bones and ripping apart of flesh made Eve shiver with fear. She opened one of her eyes slightly to see the Arbiter looking on in complete disbelief.

_Jeez!_ Eve thought. _How can he watch something like this?_

After a few seconds, the crunching stopped. Eve looked back towards the creature. The two tentacles that were once holding Tangent and Regret were now empty. On Regret's tentacle, Eve could just about see a small red mark. That was all that was left of him.

"It's a good thing Wally's not here if that thing likes to eat monitors," Auto said.

Eve nodded.

The creature's head moved towards the two once again. This time, Eve and the Arbiter began to panic, thinking they were next on the creature's menu. Luckily, the mouth stopped about fifty feet from the two. The head faced the Arbiter.

**"Your prophets have promised you freedom from a doomed existence,"** the creature said, It's enormous mouth moving apart then looking like it was reconnecting again. **"But you will find no salvation on this ring. Those who built this place knew what they wrought. Do not mistake their intent, or all will perish as they did before,"**

The Arbiter stared at the creature. What was it talking about? _"Do not mistake their intent, or all will perish as they did before,"_ Did he mean that something happened a long time ago that was supposedly the reason for the Forerunners being killed?

Eve, however, knew what the creature meant. The Halo rings had been fired before in the far past to prevent the Flood from spreading. Juggernaut, another monitor on the last Halo ring, had told her, Auto and Wally this when they were in the control centre.

The creature then turned It's head towards her. It must have sensed what she was thinking.

**"You know of the rings' purpose, don't you," **the creature said to her.

Eve nodded and turned her head towards the Arbiter.

"Arbiter, this thing is right," she said. "Halo is a weapon. Your prophets are making a big mistake,"

"Your ignorance has already destroyed one of the sacred rings, demon," he replied. "You shall not harm another,"

**"If you will not hear the truth, then I will show it to you,"** the creature said. **"There is still time to stop the key from turning, but first it must be found,"**

The creature looked towards Eve.

**"You will search one likely spot,"** it said before turning It's head towards the Arbiter. **"And you will search another. Fate had us meet as foes, but this ring will make us allies!"**

Gold lights began to form around the Arbiter and Eve. Within a few seconds, they were completely engulfed by them. Then, as quickly as they came, the lights were gone, along with the Arbiter and Eve.


	16. High Charity

**Date: 20th April, 2552**

**Location: **_**High Charity**_**, Covenant holy city**

It had been an hour since the events at Delta Halo's library took place. Tartarus returned with the Index to the Covenant holy city and presented it to the prophets. Immediately, a celebration broke among the Covenant. The icon had been retrieved and now they could begin the Great Journey.

However, whilst the celebrations were in full motion around High Charity, reports of Elite councillors being massacred by Brutes began to sweep through the city. Truth quickly explained this as an Elite revolt against the Covenant as a retaliation for their ousting against from protecting the prophets. Truth and Mercy immediately ordered all Elite councillors and, shortly after, every Elite in the Covenant to be killed. Wanting to stay loyal, the Jackals, Drones and most grunts and Hunters joined the brutes, now known as the Covenant Loyalists, in their battle against the Elites. Even high above High Charity, there were battles going on between Elite and Brute controlled carriers and battle cruisers.

**Covenant council hall entrance**

Outside the entrance into the tower with the Covenant council hall, which was the pathway where the Arbiter ('Vadamee) was punished for his heresy just days earlier. However, a large group of Grunt and Jackal rioters were now outside the council hall tower. They were all eager to get a look at the sacred icon. However, a group of Brute honour guards were refusing to let them inside. They were getting a lot of shouts and insults for doing so.

Near one of the pillars, a Grunt climbed up it and began shouting and shaking It's fist at the Brutes, though it was barely noticeable as the Brutes had their attention focused on a few wise Grunts and Jackals at the front of the rioters group.

Armed with their pikes, which were deadly melee weapons, and their size and strength, the Brutes could easily hold of the rioters. One of them swung his pike at a Grunt that tried to run into the tower. The Grunt was hit in the head and fell to the floor, out cold. A Jackal charged towards the Brute next to him, only to end up grabbing the pike and start wrestling the Brute for control of it. The Brute's strength would easily overpower the Jackal. Another two Brutes appeared out of the doorway and walked down to help their comrades.

**Covenant council hall**

In the Covenant council hall, Truth and Mercy were sitting in their hovering chairs at the back of the hall on the large circular platform. Two honour guard Brutes were standing guard next to the platform. Outside the four doors, on each of the pillars that held up the staircase on the sides of the hall, were four Grunts, all minors. They were all armed with needlers and were watching Truth with amazement. Two more honour guard Brutes were standing guard near the entrance to the hall.

"We are, all of us, gravely concerned," Truth was saying. Mercy was hovering nearby watching Truth say his speech. "The release of the parasite was unexpected, unfortunate." Truth went on. "But, there is no need to panic. In truth, this is a time to rejoice. A moment that all the Covenant should savour," Truth raised the Index as if he were a sportsman raising a gold medal in triumph. "For the sacred icon has been found," Truth continued. "We have paid it with many lives of the loyal Brutes. But their deaths are not in vain. With the icon, our path is clear, our entry in the Divine Beyond guaranteed! The Great Journey is nigh and nothing not even the parasite can stop-what is that?"

Truth suddenly pointed towards the middle of the room. Everyone turned to look. A gold light was forming and growing bigger. One of the Grunts was brave enough to venture near the light, his needler half-raised. As he came with four feet of the light, it suddenly disappeared, only there was a figure standing in the middle of the room.

"The demon!" Truth exclaimed.

Eve looked down at the Grunt, who was frozen with fear.

"Boo," she said.

That did it. The Grunt let out a squeal and turned round to run. However, because it turned round so fast, the alien ended up tossing his weapon into the air. Eve raised a hand and caught it. She aimed it down at the prophets, her finger on the trigger.

The two guards standing guard near the prophets immediately stepped forward and lowered the tip of their pikes in front of their holy leaders. They were going to defend them with their very lives.

"Kill the demon!" Truth ordered.

Before Eve could react, a large circular hole opened up beneath the platform. The platform lowered down into the hole with Truth, mercy and the two Brutes. Within a few seconds, they had disappeared from sight. The hole then closed.

"Eve! Behind you!" Auto warned.

Eve shot round to see the two honour guard Brutes, that were standing guard at the hall's entrance, now just metres in front of her with their pikes lowered towards her ready for battle. One of the Brutes laughed.

"Your trapped now, demon," he said. "Grunts! Help us remove this vermin from our holy city,"

The Brutes looked towards the two pillar doors near them to see them open. The Grunts ran inside and wasted no time in closing them again.

"Not to loyal, are they," Eve said in a taunting manner.

One of the Brutes growled and charged towards her. Eve, however, was too quick for him. She quickly dived sideways and fired a barrage of purple projectiles at the Brute. However, she got a shock. Most of them hit their target and embedded themselves inside the Brute, but it barely did any damage to him at all. In fact, the Brute just laughed and charged towards Eve. Eve began to panic. These aliens were a lot harder to kill. She quickly dived sideways, narrowly avoiding an attack by the Brute's pike, and fired another barrage of projectiles at her enemy. They quickly piled up on the creature's skin, making him look like a giant purple porcupine.

BOOM! The projectiles exploded. The explosion was so powerful that the Brute was lifted several feet into the air before landing back on the floor, dead. A small pool of dark purple/black blood began to form around the body. Eve breathed a quick sigh of relief. That was one down and one to go.

A sudden growl caught her attention. Eve looked up to see the other Brute drop his pike. His chest was heaving in and out and he was growling loudly. Then, all of a sudden, he charged towards Eve like an enraged bull. Eve yelped and dived sideways, narrowly avoiding a double fist attack by the Brute.

"What the Hell's he doing?" Eve shouted.

"It's berserking!" Auto replied. "Looks like killing their comrades one at a time is not such a good idea at all!"

Suddenly, Eve was hurled into the air. The Brute had charged into her at full speed. Eve landed painfully on her side next to one of the pillar doors. She groaned as she lifted her head up, only to roll sideways to avoid the Brute as it jumped into the air and crashed down onto the floor with his fists.

Eve quickly got up and swung her needler at the Brute's face, hitting him in the side of the head. She did the same, hitting him in the nose. This barely did any damage at all, though it did make the Brute more angry.

"Oh, c'mon!" Eve growled before being thrown into the air by the Brute again.

Eve landed on her back in the middle of the hall. The Brute charged towards her. Eve saw this coming and raised her needler. She fired a barrage of purple projectiles at the creature's head. They hit the creature, but the crown over It's head gave it some protection. Eve rolled sideways again, narrowly avoiding a foot slam by the Brute.

Eve got up and ran towards the hall's door. She prayed that it would open. However, when she reached it, she discovered it was locked. Eve shot round just in time to dive out of the way as the Brute launched another double fist strike. However, he also failed to stop in time and slammed straight into the door, knocking the crown off his head. Eve saw her chance and fired a few purple projectiles at the creature. They hit him and he fell to the floor, dead.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close," she said as she looked down at the dead Brute before her.

"Yes, it was," Auto replied. "Now we have to find Truth and stop him before he gets away,"

Eve nodded.

Suddenly, a loud whirring sound filled the hall. It was coming from the back where the prophets had been just moments earlier. Eve looked down towards the back of the hall to see the large circular hole open up again. Just seconds later, the platform rose back up into the hall, only this time there was one Brute on it. He was not an honour guard but he still had very little armour on. The only piece Eve could see was on his head. However, it was what was in his hands that scared her.

The Brute was holding a deadly looking weapon. It had a large circular middle piece with a pistol-like top and a small silo sticking out of the front of the pistol-like top of the gun. A silver section of the weapon went underneath the circular section and ended in a tail shaped like the edge of a small wave. Below the small silo sticking out of the pistol-like top at the front of the gun was a long piece of metal that was curved downwards at the end. Below that was another silo that looked like the barrel of an old MG42 machine gun. This weapon was known as a Type-25 Grenade Launcher. The UNSC soldiers, however, some of who knew this weapon quite well, called it the Brute Shot. Mainly because it was a favourite weapon of the Brutes.

The Brute growled as he saw Eve and stepped off the platform. When he reached the first two pillar doors, they opened and a minor Grunt came running out of both of them. They were now wielding plasma pistols.

Suddenly, the Brute fired a shot out of his weapon at Eve. However, it was not a laser or beam. It was a grenade. Eve dived out of the way. The grenade hit the door and exploded, leaving a charcoal black mark on it. The two grunts began firing green blasts from their weapons at Eve. Some hit her shield, which made her holographic meter appear above her wrist, but most she managed to avoid. The Brute fired another grenade out of his weapon at Eve. She dived sideways and just narrowly made it out of the blast radius.

Eve stood up and fired a barrage of purple projectiles at the Covenant troops. The Grunts were hit and quickly fell but the Brute, like the first two Eve killed moments earlier, was not easily hurt. Then, Eve fired another projectile. But this one was aimed straight at the silo of the Brute shot, not the Brute who was holding it. Just as it reached the silo, the Brute pulled the trigger to fire another grenade.

BOOM! An explosion erupted in the room. The Brute was thrown to the back of the hall. He landed on the floor, dead. Eve lowered her needler.

"Okay," she said. "Now how do we get out of here?" she asked.

"Hang on," Auto replied. "One moment… okay, there we go,"

Another whirring sound filled the hall. But this time it was coming from the door. Eve turned to see a small cylindrical shaped object with a flat surface rise up out of the floor next to the door. Eve walked over to the object.

"Put into the pedestal," Auto said.

Eve nodded and squeezed her shoulder. A second later, Auto's data cord rose up out of her suit. Eve took the data cord between her fingers and placed it into an opening in the side of the pedestal. Auto's seven inch high avatar rose up out of the pedestal's surface.

"That prophet Truth has the Index," Auto explained. "This is bad. We can't let him get away!"

"Do you know where he is?" Eve asked.

"A few floors below us," Auto answered. "But he is on the move. You got to stop him. Let me open this door,"

Auto's avatar disappeared back inside the pedestal. Seconds later, the door into the hall beeped loudly and opened, revealing a dark purple coloured corridor. Another door led right, but it was locked. Another door that led left was unlocked.

"Alright, let's go," Eve said.

Eve went to grab Auto's data cord, but he stopped her as his avatar rose up out of the pedestal.

"No, don't, Eve," he said, stopping her. "I can guide you through High Charity to Truth. It'll be easier to track him if I stay in the network,"

"Will you be okay in the network?" Eve asked Auto, a slight fearful tone in her voice.

"Yes, I'll be fine," Auto answered. "C'mon, go! Don't let Truth get away,"

Eve nodded and ran into the corridor and turned left. The door at the end opened as she approached it. Eve ran through the doorway into a small room with a barricade a few feet in front of the door. She was about to run around the barricade when she stopped all of a sudden. She could hear voices. They were very deep, but sounded more like grunts and barks. It was probably more of the Brutes.

Eve pressed her back against the barricade and slowly moved towards the right side of it. She peeked her head from behind the barricade just to see two Brutes run out from behind another barricade at the other end of the room. They were wielding plasma rifles, only the weapons were a bright red colour instead of dark blue. They were known as Brute plasma rifles.

Suddenly, one of the Brutes spotted Eve.

"Demon!" he shouted.

Eve quickly dived behind the barricade as a barrage of red blasts shot out from the Brutes' plasma rifles at her. The barrage stopped after a few moments. One of the Brutes shouted something. Eve knew they were coming over to get her. She had to find somewhere to hide. She could not go back through the doorway into the corridor because all it led to was the council hall and there was no way out of there.

A second later, the two Brutes charged out from behind the barricade, waving their weapons. But they suddenly stopped. Eve was gone.

"Where is the demon?" one of them growled.

Suddenly, the other Brute fell to the floor, dead. The other Brute gasped and saw several needler projectiles sticking out the back of his head. The Brute looked up, only to see the bottom of a needler hit him the face. The Brute flew back into the wall, out cold. Eve dropped her needler and took the plasma rifle out of his hands.

"See how good this is," she muttered.

Eve turned and ran to the other end of the room. She ran around the barricade. The door on the other side beeped loudly and opened to reveal the long silver pathway that led to a ledge about sixty feet ahead. The path went into a small slope before going flat again, making it look like some kind of trench as the floor both sides of the pathway were about two feet higher. There were two tall and wide pillars on both sides of the pathway. Far away over the other side of the ledge was the Covenant holy city.

As Eve stepped forward into the room, a loud screech drew her attention. A Jackal standing behind one of the pillars to the left of the silver pathway had spotted her. It's screech had brought the attention of a nearby Brute, armed with a red plasma rifle, and two minor Grunts, who were armed with plasma pistols, that were standing guard behind another pillar further down from the Jackal. The Covenant troops immediately raised their weapons and fired on Eve.

Eve ran forward and dived behind one of the pillars to the right of the walkway. Blasts hit her cover and fizzed away as if they were eating away at it. Eve fired three shots from her plasma rifle out at the Covenant. They hit the Jackal's shield and easily disabled it. Eve then fired another shot at the Jackal. The blast hit the creature in the head, killing it.

A loud growl drew Eve's attention. The Brute ran out from behind It's pillar and fired a barrage of red blasts at her. Eve hid behind the pillar, narrowly avoiding one of the blasts that almost hit her arm. When the barrage stopped, Eve fired on the Brute. However, she was shocked to see that even though the blasts hit the creature and looked as though they were doing more damage, the Brute made no attempt to get to cover. It was obvious he wanted to fight to the death and was more willing to die whilst holding off Eve long enough for his prophets to get a good distance away from her. Finally, after a few seconds, the Brute slumped forward onto the floor, dead.

"KILL DEMON!" one of the Grunts yelled.

Eve ran out from behind the pillar and fired several blasts at the Grunts. Both were hit and fell to the floor, dead.

Eve ran forward towards the end of the pathway. She suddenly skidded to a halt. Her eyes grew wide. Spread out below her was the Covenant holy city. It was absolutely enormous! Bigger than anything she had ever seen in her entire life. What amazed her more was the enormous chrome triangle/diamond shaped structure in the middle of the city. The tall spire stuck up into the air towards a large hole where a light shone down onto the structure as if it were being looked down upon by Heaven.

"Truth is moving through the lower levels of the tower," Auto explained, snapping Eve back into reality.

Even though he was no longer inside her suit, Eve could still hear him clearly as if he was.

"Then how do we get to him?" Eve asked.

She got her answer when a small circular hole opened up in the floor. Eve peeked her head over the edge to see another silver pathway about seventy feet below her. She could see more pillars lined up along both sides of the pathway, and there were probably more of them down there than around this pathway.

"I've reversed this gravity lift," Auto explained. "Drop down and try to cut him off,"

Eve nodded and stepped into the gravity lift. At once, she began to descend as if an invisible hand had grabbed her and was pulling her down towards the bottom. As Eve descended further towards the silver pathway, she could see another door at the end of the pathway.

As Eve landed on the pathway, the door at the end beeped loudly. It was opening. Eve ran forward and hid behind one of the pillars. She peeked her head out from behind the pillar a little to see two Brutes, both armed with red plasma rifles, running towards the gravity lift. Eve hid back behind the pillar and clutched her plasma rifle tight. She was going to surprise them when they went past her. There was only one thing she had to worry about; was this going to work?

Moments later, the two Brutes ran past Eve's pillar and headed towards the gravity lift.

"I cannot wait to get my hands on that demon's flesh!" one of them growled.

"Let us hope we surprise her," the other Brute replied.

As the two Brutes reached the gravity lift, one of them stepped into it. What the…? It was not working!

"Infernal machine!" the Brute in the gravity lift growled.

With their attention distracted on the machine, Eve made her move. She got up and ran towards the other Brute. When she was just a few feet behind him, she swung her plasma rifle and hit the Brute right in the centre of the back. The Brute roared in pain and, because Eve had hit him so hard, stumbled forward. The other Brute failed to react as his comrade ploughed into him. Both tumbled backwards and fell over the edge of the pathway. Their screams filled the air, but they soon faded away within a few seconds.

Eve turned and ran down the pathway towards the door. It opened as she approached it. On the other side of the door was another long purple corridor, leading both left and right. At both ends of the corridor was a door. The door at the right end was locked. Eve ran into the corridor and turned left. The door at this end of the corridor opened as she approached it.

_"Reinforce all approaches to the command centre!"_ a familiar voice suddenly erupted out of a built in intercom. It was Tartarus. _"Slay the demon on sight!"_

As the door Eve reached opened up, she found herself in a corridor intersection. The two doors, one to her left and one to her right, were both locked. However, the door opposite hers was unlocked.

Suddenly, the door to Eve's left beeped loudly. Eve hid behind the side of the door in the corridor. She peeked her head out to see three Jackals, with their shields activated and plasma pistols raised, run from the left to the right door, which beeped loudly and opened up to reveal a small slope corridor. They ran into the slope corridor and disappeared from sight. The door closed behind them.

"Be careful, Eve," Auto said. "They're starting to beef up their patrols,"

"Thanks for the warning," Eve replied.

Eve ran back into the intersection corridor towards the door opposite the one she entered the corridor through. It opened as she approached it. Eve ran through the open doorway into a large curve shaped room with a pathway going into the left wall. Several pillars went down from the ceiling to the side of the pathway. The right wall was made up of several egg shaped doors, much like those in the Mausoleum of the Arbiter, near the top. The rest was a dark purple colour. At the end of the room was another door.

Eve raised her plasma rifle and stepped into the room. Suddenly, she stopped dead. Ahead of her was another Brute armed with a brute shot. What was different about him, however, was that he had some kind of red flag attached to the strap around his chest. He was patrolling, but at the moment he was walking down towards the door at the other end of the room. Eve only had a few moments until he turned and spotted her so she had to be quick.

Eve crept over to the pathway in the wall. She climbed onto it as she reached it. However, she stopped dead again and almost ending swearing. Ahead of her were a group of three minor Grunts. They were sleeping about half-way down the path behind one of the pillars. They were all curled up in their ball-like shape, making them look like some alien building with their enormous triangle armour piece sticking out of their back up into the air. She was going to have to deal with them quickly before taking on the Brute.

Eve crept over to the Grunts as quietly as she could, occasionally looking at the Brute to make sure he was not going to suddenly turn around. Thankfully, he did not. When Eve reached the Grunts, she raised her plasma rifle and brought it down on the first Grunts' head. The Grunt did not even scream or yell. The blow killed it outright and the creature slumped forward onto the floor. Eve repeated this on the other two Grunts. However, she grew worried when she killed the last Grunt because the blow sent the Grunt into the wall and created a loud thud. Luckily, the Brute did not noticed and continued on towards the door.

Eve got down from the walkway onto the floor. With the Grunts dead, all she had to do was kill the Brute and then she could continue on after Truth. When Eve was a few feet from the Brute, she raised her plasma rifle to swing it into the Brute's head and kill it, or at least knock it out.

WHAM!

Before Eve had even blinked, she was on the floor. The Brute stood over her, It's glaring eyes meeting hers. He had heard the thud of the last grunt and immediately knew that Eve was in the room. The Brute lowered his Brute shot so it was aiming straight for her heart. It looked like Eve was a goner.

Suddenly, a loud beep filled the room. It was coming from behind. The Brute turned his head to see who, or what, was coming into the room. Big mistake.

The one second the Brute let his guard down gave Eve the chance to act. She swung her plasma rifle at the Brute's legs, hitting them with all her strength. That did it. The Brute roared in pain and collapsed to the floor. Eve then swung her plasma rifle over her shoulders and brought it down on the Brute's head, knocking the creature out cold.

Eve stood up and looked towards the open door at the other end of the room. Behind it was another four way intersection corridor but no one was in the corridor.

"You can thank me for that," came Auto's voice. "I managed to override the door's motion detectors,"

"Thanks Auto," Eve replied. "Have you managed to find Truth?" she asked him.

"Yes, he's a few floors below us," Auto answered. "He's… Hang on. I'm reading something strong not far below us as well. It's… coming from the bottom of the tower. Further down than where Truth is. I think we better go check it out,"

"But what about Truth and the Index?" Eve asked Auto.

"We'll have to deal with them later," Auto answered. "Right now, something tells me we should just head down there and find out what it is,"

Eve sighed and nodded. She ran through the open doorway into the corridor intersection. The door's motion detectors activated the door in front of her, causing it to open. Eve ran forward into a large square shaped room with a walkway, about ten feet off the ground, going along the side of the walls. In the middle of the room was a large dark pink cube shaped building in the middle of the room. A large doorway with a curved top was on the wall of the cube in front of Eve. Near the top of the same wall was another doorway with a small walkway that connected to the one that went around the side of the room. Through the lower doorway, Eve could see two large purple platforms built into the floors inside the cube shaped building. One led up to the pathway. The other led down into the unknown.

Eve raised her plasma rifle and stepped into the room. Her finger was twitching on the weapon's trigger. If any Covenant showed up, she would be ready to kill them.

"DEMON!"

It seemed her cautiousness was perfectly justified. Just a second after Eve stepped into the room, one of the circular doors inside the cube shaped building opened up. Two Jackals hovered up out of the hole and landed on the floor, their shields activated and weapons raised. The yell had come from a Brute that was patrolling along the walkway. The creature whipped out a plasma rifle and fired a barrage of red blasts at Eve, who dived forward and hid behind the wall, narrowly avoiding a blast from one of the Jackals.

Eve pressed herself against the wall of the cube building, but she knew it was not going to protect her for long. The Brute would only have to move to another part of the walkway and she was a goner. She had to find a way to get inside the building, but as long as the Jackal's were inside the entrance there was no that was going to happen.

Eve moved her plasma rifle out from behind the wall so the front was facing the inside of the building. She pulled the trigger. A barrage of red blasts flew into the room and hit the Jackals' shields. The shields quickly changed colour from green to orange, indicating they were getting weaker. Finally, the two shields disappeared, having been disabled by the relentless barrage. The Jackals were quickly torn apart by the blasts and they fell to the floor, dead.

Eve poked her head into the room. It was clear. She ran out from behind the wall into the room, coming to a halt next to the two circular platforms.

"Okay now which one goes down towards this… thing you've picked up?" Eve asked.

"The one on the right," Auto answered. "I'll open it up,"

A second later, the right platform on the floor opened up, revealing a long tunnel that led down towards this… thing Auto had picked up. Whatever it was, Eve was hoping that it was worth going down to if it was more important than stopping Truth.

Eve stepped into the hole.

BANG! A small explosion erupted on the wall in front of her. Eve quickly looked over her shoulder to see the Brute standing in the doorway, his Brute shot raised towards her. The Brute went to fire but, thankfully, by the time his finger hit the trigger, Eve had disappeared into the tunnel.

"I'll lock the door," Auto said.

As soon as he finished speaking, the door into the tunnel closed. Loud thuds were heard from the other side of the door, most likely the Brute pounding on the door to try and break it open.

Eve looked down the tunnel. Just as she did, the tunnel suddenly ended and she found herself hovering down from one hole to another in a second. The new hole she had just entered was in another cube shaped building almost like the one she had been in just seconds earlier, only the walls were a lighter purple colour and there was only one door built into the floor.

However, in the one second that Eve had exited one hole only to enter another, she noticed a Brute standing guard, with his back to her. On the floor in front of him was the body of a creature, but she could not make it out in time before disappearing into the next hole.

"What the hell was that?" Eve asked herself.

"What was what?" Auto asked her.

"When I went into this hole just now, I saw the body of… something lying on the floor in front of that Brute," she answered.

"We'll have to check and see what it is when we get back up there," Auto said. "Right now, we have to find out what this thing is,"

Eve nodded.

Moments later, Eve found herself in another long tunnel, only this time the windows were see-through. Eve found herself in a large barrel shaped room with purple coloured walls and a silver floor. On the wall in the direction she was facing was a door that most likely led into a corridor. The tunnel ended about six feet above the floor. Almost completely surrounding the tunnel, in a circle-like shape, was a small wall.

Then, something on the floor moved. Eve's eyes focused on it. As she descended closer to the floor, she saw it was another Brute. Then, two smaller figures lumbered into view. Grunts. Eve tightened her grip on her plasma rifle. She knew that as soon as she landed, getting behind cover was to be her first priority, otherwise she was dead. Eve took a deep breath, preparing for the mad dash.

Seconds later, Eve landed on the floor of the barrel shaped room. As soon as she landed, she crouched down and ran as fast as she could towards the wall, ducking down behind it. Sure enough, her head only just missed several blasts that were fired from the Brute and the two Grunts. Eve rested her back against the wall, feeling the thudding noises as the blasts hit the other side of the wall. She silently prayed that they would not break through the wall.

After a few seconds, the barrage suddenly stopped. Heavy and light footfalls quickly followed. Eve gripped her plasma rifle tighter and waited for the Covenant to come closer. The footfalls became louder with every second that passed. Eve breathed in. In an instant, she shot up from the floor, turning, and pulled the plasma rifle's trigger.

The barrage of red blasts cut through the Covenant soldiers like a knife through warm butter. The Grunts fell quickly. The Brute was able to take on more damage but the blasts eventually the creature could take no more and he fell to the floor, dead.

Eve jumped over the wall and ran towards the door on the wall. It beeped loudly and opened as she approached it, revealing a long purple corridor with another door at the end.

"The thing I picked up," came Auto's voice. "It's getting stronger. It must be at the end of the corridor."

Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. The door opened as she approached it, revealing a large dome shaped room with a circular platform that was about ten feet long and wide, in the middle of the room. Eve walked over to the platform. It was a dark purple colour with a smooth light blue surface that looked almost virtual.

"This it?" Eve asked.

"Yes," Auto answered. "Alright, let's see what the Covenant are keeping from us,"

As soon as Auto finished speaking, a virtual image appeared above the top of the platform. It was a ball with five enormous landmasses. Two of them were connected and one of the two was enormous. The landmass at the bottom of the ball was a white colour. Surrounding the landmasses was a blue colour. It was instantly recognizable to Eve. It was her species home world; Earth.

"Oh no!" Auto's voice piped up. Though this time, it was in a panicked tone. "No, this is not good! This is bad! Very bad!"

"What is it?" Eve asked urgently.

"I've found information on Truth's plan for an attack on Earth!" Auto replied in a panicked tone.

"But I thought the Covenant had already attacked Earth," Eve said.

"No," Auto replied. "Remember when we were on Delta Halo and we received that message from Truth to Regret? What it meant was that Regret had attacked Earth without Truth or Mercy's knowing, obviously by the time they did know Regret was already at Earth. Anyway, I've found out that Truth knew Earth was the human home world and he's formed up an armada of five hundred ships to attack the planet… And most of the fleet's already there!"

Eve went silent. Shock, anxiety and fear. All of them filled her like water filling up a tank. Truth had formed up a fleet to attack Earth! No. This was very bad. Humanity's defences were barely able to hold out against Regret's fleet. Now Truth's forces were attacking Earth! What was worse, only part of the fleet was there. If Truth led the rest of the fleet to Earth, the already over pressured UNSC defences would not stand a chance. Now it was not only a race to get to Truth, it was a race against time itself to stop him before he escaped with his fleet to Earth.

Eve turned and ran towards the room's door, causing it to open. Behind her, the virtual image of Earth disappeared back into the platform.

"Wow," Auto's voice said, in a surprised tone, as Eve ran down the corridor "I've found something else inside Truth's plans as well."

"Which is what?" Eve asked him as she reached the door, which beeped loudly and opened.

"I've found out that Truth was planning to replace the Elites with the Brutes," Auto explained. "He's had this plan in mind for a long time. He's wanted to replace the Elites because their loyalty and reliability was doubtful throughout their service in protecting the prophets. The Brutes, to him on the other hand, are more willing to die for their prophets and are more unquestioning pawns then the Elites,"

Eve jumped over the wall and stopped underneath the tunnel.

"Wow," Eve muttered. "The Elites are going to be pissed when they find out Truth's plan, especially since more Elites have died then Brutes."

Then, as if an invisible hand had grabbed her, Eve began to hover above the ground. Within seconds, she shot up like a bullet into the tunnel and, just moments later, the room was out of sight. Eve looked up and saw another circular shaped door, about thirty feet above her, open. Eve hovered out of the hole but, as if she had been pushed by an invisible person, she flew sideways before landing on the floor of the second cube building she had passed through just minutes earlier.

It was then Eve saw the body she had also passed earlier on. It was an Elite. It was still in It's honour guard uniform. A plasma rifle lay on the floor next to it. By the looks of it, the Elite had tried to flee, but was killed by the Brutes Eve had seen standing over the body. Looks like Truth's order to kill the Elites was in full swing, but what were the other Covenant races going to do about it? Were they going to join the Brutes and kill the Elites, if they were they were most likely to have been lied to by Truth? Or were they going to aid their former battlefield leaders in killing the Brutes?

Eve looked away from the body and scanned the room. She was alone. The Brute had probably moved on to kill more Elites or had probably come looking for her. She shook the Brute out of her mind and ran out of the cube shaped building into another large square shaped room. On the wall ahead of her was a door. It's motion detectors activated and emitted the doors beep before opening up. Eve ran through the open doorway into another large curve shaped room with a pathway going across the right wall, pillars along the left side of the pathway and the top of the left wall was again covered with egg shaped doors.

"DIE YOU BIG JERK!"

Eve looked ahead to see a Grunt, armed with a needler, firing on a Brute. The projectiles hit the creature but, like what happened earlier on when eve battled some Brutes with a needler, they barely did any damage. The Brute raised his plasma rifle and fired a shot at the Grunt's head, killing it. The Brute laughed at his fallen victim. Suddenly, an energy sword swung through the air and embedded itself into the creature's back. Holding that energy sword was an honour guard Elite. The Brute did not even yell. The Elite pulled the sword out of It's enemy and the Brute crumpled forward onto the floor and lay still.

Eve went wide eyed. She was completely stunned by what she had just seen. Not only were the Brutes and Elites fighting each other, but now the Grunts had decided to side with the Elites and fight the Brutes!

But earlier on Eve saw Grunts fighting alongside the Brutes! So why were they aiding the Brutes and then, suddenly, decided to turn against them. The only explanation she could think off was that some of the Grunts had decided to aid the Elites whilst others had joined the Brutes. This really was turning into a civil war and all of it was because of Truth's plan to replace an old honour guard race with a new one. However, members of Covenant races turning on each other to fight or aid the Brutes was probably not what Truth had anticipated.

Eve climbed onto the pathway and ran down it. As she neared the curve of the room, several more bodies came into view. They were all a mixture of Grunts, Brutes, Elites and even a few Jackals. The Elite with the energy sword spotted her.

"Demon!" it growled loud enough for Eve to hear.

Eve screeched to a halt just in time to duck as the Elite swung It's energy sword at her. The deadly blade missed her head by a millimetre and struck one of the pillars. Eve reacted instantly by slamming her plasma rifle into the side of the Elites' legs. The Elite roared in pain and dropped It's energy sword as it covered It's leg to sooth the pain. Eve grabbed the energy sword with her hand and brought it down onto the Elite's chest, killing it.

A loud drew Eve's attention. She looked up to see the door at the end of the room open up. Two brutes, armed with plasma rifles, ran into the curved room. One of them shouted and pointed at Eve. Eve dived behind the pillar behind her, narrowly missing a set of blasts that flew past her and hit the wall.

Eve gasped in relief as she stood up and pressed her back up against the pillar. The blasts hit against the back of the pillar as if they were going to break it down. Then, they stopped all of a sudden. Eve knew they were coming over and tightened her grip on the energy sword in her other hand. Maybe energy sword would kill them with one blow. Hopefully, they would. Otherwise she was as good as dead.

The two Brutes were now just feet away from the pillar on the normal pathway of the room.

"You go around the other side," the other Brute ordered. "We will trap the demon,"

The other Brute nodded and ran down the pathway to the left side of the pillar. The other Brute climbed onto the raised pathway and cautiously approached the right side of the pillar, his plasma rifle raised.

The second Brute pressed his back up against the side of the pillar and moved towards the end of it. When he reached the end of the pillar's side, he peeked his head round the corner to see that Eve was gone.

"What the…?" the Brute managed to say as he walked out from behind the side of the pillar. "Where is the demon?"

"AAAHHH!"

The other Brute's body suddenly flew through the air and hit the wall opposite the raised pathway. The second Brute was taken completely by surprise but before he could react, the end of an energy sword swung through the air and hit him in the chest. The Bute roared in pain and was sent flying backwards onto the floor.

Eve's plan had worked. Killing the first Brute and then quickly striking the second before he had time to react was pretty much the only, and quickest, way to get out of the room.

Eve jumped down from the raised pathway and ran down the room to the door at the end. It beeped loudly and opened as she approached it. Eve found herself in another corridor that led right to a large door at the end. Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. The door at the end opened as she approached it. Eve ran through the open doorway.

She found herself outside on a half circular shaped platform. Coming from the side ends of the front of the platform was some kind of silver metallic rail that rose diagonally right and formed a bridge-like pathway over a large gaps between the platform Eve was on and another platform connected to another tower about a hundred feet ahead. Below the gap was another bridge-like pathway. At the end of the platform was a light blue circle engraved into the floor.

Far away to Eve's left, the Covenant city became visible again. In the middle was the enormous chrome pyramid-like structure. All of this was a world inside a world. It was amazing and terrifying at the same time.

Then it struck her.

_If I were a prophet, then that's where I would go_ she thought.

So if her theory was correct, which it was most likely to be, then Truth was planning on getting to that pyramid structure in the middle of the city. At least she knew where he was going but there was nothing she could do, and it was probably the same for Auto. There were no UNSC ships. No MAC cannons from orbital defence platforms. No radios to contact the UNSC for help. She and Auto were on their own.

"How do I get across?" Eve asked herself.

"Just step on the blue circle," Auto answered. "It's a gravity lift. I'll activate it,"

Eve walked forward onto the blue circle. At once, the circle lit up slightly. Eve hovered several inches into the air before floating through the air over towards the other platform. Second later, her feet touched down on the blue circle. She was now on the next tower.

Eve scanned her surroundings, keeping her energy sword and plasma rifle raised. There was no door into the tower this time. Instead, there were two pathways that led around the sides of the tower, one on the left and one on the right. Eve ran left down the pathway. As she reached the other side, she screeched to a halt.

There was another half circular shaped platform coming out of this side of the structure. Like the last one, it had two metallic rails, one above and one below the gap between this platform and another about a hundred feet ahead. However, scattered across the platform Eve was on were several barricades the Covenant had set up. Behind or in front of them were Brutes and Elites fighting each other. Eve watched as one Brute armed with a red plasma rifle fired on an Elite that was desperately trying to take cover in the little room between a barricade and the wall of the tower. The red blasts hit their target and, after a few seconds of being hit continuously, the Elite fell forward onto the floor, dead.

Eve ran forward onto the platform. She had to duck several times to avoid stray blasts and projectiles and even hid once or twice behind a few barricades to avoid the Covenant. Some did see her but it was amazing that even though she was the mortal enemy of the Covenant, the Brutes and Elites were too busy trying to rip each other's heads off than to deal with demon threat. At least this made getting to the platform a bit easier.

Eve ran onto the light blue circle at the end of the platform. However, this time it was not lighting up like it had done before. What was going on? Had the Covenant shut it down somehow. Eve turned but still only saw the relentless fighting between the Brutes and Elites continuing on. She turned to face the next tower ahead of her, only to realise there was a difference.

Floating over towards her platform was a large figure. A Brute! Behind the creature were three Jackals who had their shields activated and weapons raised. The Brute shouted something and pointed at Eve. It raised It's Brute shot and fired a shot out of the weapon at Eve, who dived behind a nearby barricade. Eve shot up from behind her cover and fired a few blasts at the Covenant as they landed on the blue circle. The Jackals were hit before they could raise their shields and fell over the edge of the platform to their doom. The Brute, however, was barely hurt by any of the blasts. Eve was going to need to use her energy sword if she was going to kill the creature quickly.

The Brute loaded another shot into his weapon. As he did, Eve jumped over the barricade and charged towards the creature. The Brute failed to react in time.

"AHHHH!"

The creature's scream filled the air as the energy sword slashes across It's chest. The blow was so powerful that it actually threw the Brute over the edge of the platform. The creature screams again filled the air as it fell but they soon died away as the Brute disappeared from sight.

Eve stepped back onto the blue circle. To her relief, the circle lit up this time and she floated all the way to the other platform. Behind her, the Covenant were still too busy killing each other to realise their mortal enemy was inside their holy city. By the time Eve reached the next platform, the noise of the battle had almost completely died away. But there was no time to watch the Covenant kill each other. She had a prophet to stop and an icon to get.

On the wall ahead of her was a door. Eve ran over to the door, causing to open. Eve ran into a large room with a slope pathway at an angle of around thirty degrees. At the top was another door. Along the paths sides, about twenty feet from the door, were several cylindrical-like object with curved tops. There were three on both sides of the pathway and were spaced about ten feet from each other and were completely in line with each other as well.

Then, just as Eve reached the cylindrical objects, the door at the top of the slop path beeped loudly and opened up. Out of the doorway came a group of three Brutes. One of them had a flag attached to the strap on his back so he was probably the leader. All three were armed with Brute shots. The leader of the three spotted Eve and fired a shot at her. Eve saw it coming and managed to dive behind one of the cylindrical objects. Another two shots flew through the air and hit Eve's cover.

"Auto! Help!" Eve shouted.

A second later, another loud beep filled the room. The Brutes turned to see who, or what, was entering the room. However, there was no one there. Eve peeked her head out from behind the cylindrical object and saw the three creatures distracted. She shot up and pulled the trigger on her plasma rifle, which was aimed at the Brutes.

A barrage of red blasts shot out from the plasma rifle and hit the Brutes. The three were taken completely by surprise. The Brute captain was hit the most and he fell to the floor, dead.

The remaining two Brutes growled and threw their weapons on the ground. Eve saw this and gulped. This was not good.

Suddenly, the two Brutes charged towards Eve. Eve yelped and ran towards the other side of the pathway, firing blasts from her plasma rifle as she did. Though the Brutes were hit, the blasts did almost no nothing at all, apart from making the Brutes more angry. Eve began to panic and ran behind one of the cylindrical objects but that was not going to protect her from the Brutes.

WHAM! Eve fell to the floor. A burning pain ran up and down her side. She groaned as she looked up to see one of the Brutes standing over her. The creature had struck her with both fists and now had them clamped together and raised above his head to smash down onto her. Eve had to do something quick or she was a goner.

Just as the Brute was about to bring his fists down onto Eve, she swung her foot upwards, hitting the Brute in the jaw. The Brute roared in pain and grabbed his jaw. Eve scrambled to her feet and ran towards the doorway. A growl and heavy footfalls from behind indicated the Brutes were chasing after her. Eve ran faster towards the open doorway. When she was about ten feet from the doorway, she dived forward, narrowly avoiding the door as it slammed shut all of a sudden. Two loud thuds on the other side indicated the Brutes had failed to stop and ran into the door.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up. She was in another corridor. Behind her to her right, there was another door but it was locked. The corridor carried on left and turned right at the end.

"Thanks Auto," she said.

"It's okay," Auto replied.

"_Fear not my brothers, the sacred icon is secure,"_ Truth's voice suddenly erupted out of the city's intercom. _"It was Tartarus and his Brutes who took the icon from the clutches of the Flood,"_

Both Eve and Auto knew that was a lie. They had been fighting the Arbiter who had managed to get to the icon first and then Tartarus came in and took it. It was obvious Truth had made us this lie to get the other Covenant races to aid the Brutes in killing the Elites and still believe in this 'Great Journey'.

"Excellent!" Auto's voice exclaimed. "Truth is broadcasting whilst on the move. It will make him much easier to track,"

Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. When she reached it, she ran right into the next corridor. At the end was another door. It beeped loudly and opened as she approached it. Eve ran through the doorway into a large square shaped room with a dome shaped building in the middle of it. The dome had thick walls so it was not possible to see or, by the looks of it, get inside. About fifteen feet above the floor, and going around the edge of the room, was a walkway attached to the wall. A smaller walkway stuck out from the main walkway to the roof of the dome shaped building. On the wall on the other side of the room was another door.

Eve raised her plasma rifle and stepped into the room. Her eyes scanned every inch of her surroundings. She was ready to fight any Covenant but by the looks of it, she was the only one in the room. Why? Where was the Covena-

Suddenly, aloud screech filled the air. It came from behind Eve. Before she could so much turn an inch, she was lifted into the air by a pair of claw-like hands with green armour over them that grabbed her shoulders. Eve gasped and looked over her shoulder to see that a Drone was the one holding her in mid-air. The creature's yellow bug eyes looked down at It's captive. The Drone hovered higher into the air and moved forward until they were over the top of the dome. Why does it not just now drop Eve or kill her now?

She soon saw the reason when the door on the other side of the room opened up. Three Jackals ran out the corridor on the other side of the door, followed by a Brute armed with a red plasma rifle. The Drone screeched to get the squad's attention. They looked up. The Brute laughed.

"Your time has come, demon!" he said, raising his plasma rifle along with the Jackals.

Eve's heart began to beat madly against her chest. They were going to shoot her! She had to break out of the Drones' grip or she was dead.

Eve clenched her right hand into a fist and punched the Drone's left arm. The Drone let out an ear piercing screech but dropped Eve. Just as the Drone dropped Eve, the Covenant soldiers on the floor open fired. The blasts hit their fellow comrade instead of Eve. The Drone fell onto the dome's wall and onto the floor, dead.

Eve groaned as she stood up. She landed on her arm. At least it was better than getting hit by blasts.

Suddenly, the floor beneath her feet opened up into a circular hole. Eve gasped but she did not fall into the dome. She hovered down into the building and disappeared. It was a almost pitch black inside the dome, the only source of light coming through the hole in the ceiling. The hole suddenly closed, blocking out the last of the light. Eve felt her feet touch the floor. She was now surrounded by pitch blackness and most likely any Covenant in the room.

Then, as if someone had flicked a switch, light filled the inside of the dome. It seemed to be coming off the walls. Eve was standing on a light blue circle engraved into the floor. That explained the gravity lift. Her eyes went wide. Not because of the gravity lift or because the light was coming out of the walls, she had seen that a lot on the first Halo, but because she was in an armoury! All sorts of Covenant weapons were scattered around the room. Plasma pistols, plasma rifles, Brute shots, needlers, you name it.

"Yes!" Eve silently exclaimed as she ran over to a set of Brute shots and plasma rifles magnetically placed on the wall of the dome.

THUD! Eve gasped and looked up at the dome's ceiling. The Covenant squad! They were trying to break through where the hole was! Eve grabbed a Brute shot and loaded several small grenades into it. When the five grenades were inside the weapon, Eve raised the weapon up to the ceiling.

CRASH! The foot of a Brute smashed through the ceiling of the dome. Eve pulled the trigger on the weapon. A grenade flew out of the Brute shot up towards the ceiling.

BANG! The shot exploded just as the Brute went to pull his foot out of the hole. Dark purple/black blood leaked out of several wounds on the Brute's foot. A roar filled the air and the foot came out of the hole. Eve fired another shot up at the ceiling. This time, the grenade exploded on the side of the hole. Two loud screeches filled the air. That was two of the three Jackal's dead. Just one Jackal and a Brute left. Eve took a new Brute plasma rifle and an energy sword. Both were going to be useful in getting to Truth.

Eve ran into the middle of the room onto the light blue circle. At once, the gravity lift activated again. Eve hovered up towards the hole. When she reached it, she saw the last Jackal on the small walkway leading off to the main one. The creature screeched and fired a shot at her from behind It's shield. It hit Eve's suit, causing her shield to light up and her holographic meter to appear above her wrist. Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired a barrage of red blasts at the Jackal. The blasts easily broke through the shield and hit the creature, killing it.

Eve lowered her plasma rifle and scanned the room. Where was the Brute? He could not have gone far, especially with his injured foot. Eve shook that concern out of her mind. She would worry about him later. Right now, getting Truth and the Index was all that mattered.

Eve jumped down from the top of the dome and ran towards the door. It opened as she approached it. Eve ran down the long corridor and turned right into another. When Eve reached the end of this corridor, she turned left into another. At the end of this corridor was a door. Eve ran towards it, causing it to open.

Eve found herself back outside again on another half cylindrical platform. Ahead of her was another big gap between this platform and another. Above and below the gap were the two rails. However, she was not alone on this side. Scattered around the platform were a few barricades.

Standing on the blue circle was a Brute. There was a small trail of blood leading from the door to where he was. He was the one with the injured foot, and now, by the looks of it, he was going to get help. Eve activated her energy sword. The noise of the weapon coming out of the activator caused the Brute to turn.

"You will pay for coming into our holy city, demon!" he growled.

Just as he finished speaking, the Brute hovered several inches into the air. He then floated towards the other platform. Eve looked and saw several large figures appear from the left and right pathways leading behind the enormous tower. More Brutes. And they looked to be heavily armed.

Just moments later, the Brutes, along with their injured comrade who had been given a plasma rifle, floated towards the platform Eve was on. Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired a barrage of blasts at the incoming enemy. One of the Brutes was hit in the shoulder, causing a blood to trickle out of the wound. The Brute growled and raised his Brute shot. He fired a grenade at his target. Eve dived right behind a barricade, narrowly avoiding the weapon as it blew up.

As Eve stood up, the Brutes landed on her platform. All of them, apart from the Brute with the injured foot, were armed with Brute shots. Her plasma rifle was going to be no use against so she was going to have to use her energy sword.

BANG! A small explosion several feet away threw Eve to the floor. She groaned as she picked herself up. It was lucky she had the barricade to protect her or she would be dead.

A laugh caught her attention.

"Time to die, demon!" one of the Brutes growled as he, along with his comrades, aimed their weapons at her.

Eve ran towards the side of the platform. Several explosions erupted from behind as the Brutes fired grenades from their weapons at her. Eve ran faster and dived behind another barricade near the left edge of the platform. Several shots exploded against the other side of her cover. Eve prayed it would not break apart.

Suddenly, the shooting stopped. Eve tightened her grip on her energy sword and plasma rifle, believing that they were going to run over and see if she was dead. Seconds ticked by. Where were the Brutes? Were they reloading? Or were they waiting for her to come out from behind the barricade like a tiger hiding in the grass waiting to attack It's prey.

Slowly, Eve stood up from behind the barricade. To her surprise, the Brutes were back over on the other platform. Eve smiled.

"Thanks Auto," she said.

"That was not me," Auto replied.

"Then… how did they get bac-"

Eve was suddenly cut off when she saw the reason. The Brutes were firing on the pathways that went around the tower. Firing back at them were Elites.

"Wow. I never thought I would be happy for Elites to show up," Eve said.

"We'll have to thank them one day," Auto replied. "Anyway, you better get over there quick before the fight ends,"

Eve nodded and ran onto the platform's blue circle. Her feet touching the circle caused it to light up. Eve hovered several inches into the air before floating over towards the next platform. As she got closer, the fighting between the Brutes and Elites became more visible. Even before Eve was half-way to the next platform, she could see how hard the two groups were fighting to defeat the other.

As Eve landed on the blue circle, the body of a Brute fell to the floor in front of her. She immediately recognized it as the Brute with wounded foot, which was how she identified him. He had a large graze wound on his chest. In his hand was his plasma rifle. He had died fighting. Now wonder the prophets wanted to replace the Elites with the Brutes. The Brutes were more willing to die even while they were heavily wounded than the Elites.

A roar got Eve's attention. She looked up and saw a minor Elite swing It's energy sword at another Brute. It missed and hit the wall. The Brute laughed, only to be met with a fist in the face by another Elite armed with a plasma rifle.

Eve decided it was best not to hang around. She ran through the fighting Covenant onto the left pathway. However, an running around the side of the tower on the same pathway stopped her. The creature swung his fist at Eve, which she ducked to avoid. Eve then slammed fist into the Elite's chest and landed another blow in the creature's face. The Elite staggered backwards and fell over the edge of the pathway to the city far below.

_"The Elites have failed to protect the prophets,"_ came Truth's voice from the city's intercom as if on cue with the Elite Eve just killed. _"In doing so, they have put all our lives at risk. Let us crush these vermin and begin the Great Journey,"_

Even ran over the down the pathway to the other side of the pathway. Again she was on another half cylindrical platform with two rails sticking out and joining onto another platform about one hundred feet away. However, this platform was just as bad as the last.

Set up around the blue circle were two barricades. Behind them were three Jackals and two Grunts. They were all armed with plasma pistols and were firing at a group of three Elites hiding behind a barricade up against the tower's wall. Their sides were completely exposed. Perfect.

Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired at the Covenant Elites. The blasts easily broke through the Elites' shields and one-by-one they fell to the floor dead. Eve then aimed her plasma rifle at the barricades and fired a barrage at them, pinning down the Jackals and Grunts. After a few seconds, she charged towards the barricades as fast as she could.

Eve jumped over the top of the barricades and landed behind the Jackals, who were hiding behind the right barricade. She swung round with her energy sword sticking out. The deadly weapon cut into the backs of the creatures, causing blood to flow. The Jackals fell to the floor, dead. The Grunts yelled and ran past their barricade towards the pathways.

With the Covenant squad defeated, Eve turned to make sure no reinforcements were coming over from the other platform. Thankfully, they were not any. Eve was about to go on when she was suddenly stopped by Auto.

"The Covenant just destroyed two of their own ships!" Auto explained. "And I'm hearing reports of small arms fire throughout their fleets! Their fighting right above the city!"

"At least that will hold off most of them for a while," Eve replied.

"Yes, but it does not mean they won't fight to take the city and get to or protect Truth," Auto told her. "We have to hurr- hang on,"

"What is it?" Eve asked Auto.

He did not reply.

"Auto?" Eve asked, starting to get worried.

"I've got a strong energy reading!" Auto exclaimed all of a sudden, making Eve jump. "It's a slip space rupture!"

Suddenly, a bright light to Eve's left got her attention. She turned her head to see a large white circle appear in mid-air about two hundred feet away. Almost a second later, a large shape shot out of the hole and flew over the top rail.

"That was the _Amber Clad_!" Eve whispered, breath taken.

Eve watched as the Amber Clad flew right towards an enormous wall, which was the side of the top of High Charity, about a mile away. Then, the ship banked left and flew straight again until it was almost a small dot. Within a few seconds, it had disappeared behind the tower ahead of Eve.

Just seconds later, Eve heard a distant boom. Her eyes went wide and her mind was filled with the worst thought.

"The ship's crashed into a tower further up ahead," Auto said. "But… I'm not reading any human vital signs. I'll try and make contact,"

Eve nodded and stepped onto the blue circle. She hovered into the air and floated over to the next platform. When she landed on the next platform, she ran towards a door on the tower's wall in front of her. It opened as she approached it. Eve ran into a long corridor that had a locked door about fifteen feet away to the right but carried on left for about ten feet until it turned right.

Suddenly, just as Eve was about to turn down the corridor, the door to her right beeped loudly. She turned to be greeted by a group of Drones. Eve yelled and ducked. But the Drones did not even bother to attack, let alone, look at her. They just carried on flying down the corridor. Eve stood up and watched the Drones turn into the next corridor and disappear.

"With my blessing, the Brutes now lead out fleets!" Truth's voice said over the intercom. "They ask for your allegiance, and you shall give it,"

"Rise, my brothers!" came Tartarus' voice. "Cast down the Elites!"

"That's only going to intensify the fighting," Auto said.

"Yeah," Eve agreed.

Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. When she reached it, she turned left into the next corridor and ran towards the end of this one.

"There are those who said this day would never come," came Truth's voice again. "What have they to say now?"

"Once the towers are clear, we will drive them from the lower district!" came Tartarus' voice.

"I swear those two have a script," Eve heard Auto mutter.

A door at the end opened as she approached it. Eve ran into the room on the other side.

"DEMON!" a high pitched voice screamed.

Eve dived behind a barricade as a wall of blue blasts flew at her and hit the wall. Eve pressed her back against the barricade and felt the deadly blasts hit the other side. She was in another square shaped room with a large cube-like structure in the middle of it and a walkway going around the walls of the room. By the looks of the blast colours, the Covenant in this room were definitely Grunts. Out of Elites and Brutes that was where the two most likely to be with them, Eve hoped it was Elites.

Then, the barrage stopped suddenly. Eve moved to her right to peek her head out from behind the barricade. Her foot hit something. She looked to see a Drone's body lying on the floor. A plasma pistol lay several inches from It's outstretched hand. Next to the Drone's body were more of the creatures. By the looks of it, they had tried to hide behind cover like Eve but their numbers worked against them and they were probably slaughtered before they even had a chance to shoot back.

CRASH! The barricade was suddenly lifted into the air and brought down with a crash in front of the door. Eve, shocked by what just happened, looked up to see a minor Elite standing over her. The creature laughed and raised It's plasma rifle. All it had to do was pull the trigger and that would be it. Eve would be dead.

BOOM! The wall on the other side of the room seemed to explode. A high pitched voice from somewhere else in the room screamed in panic. Another deep voice shouted. The Elite standing over Eve growled and shot round to see what was going on. Big mistake.

With her attacker distracted, Eve swung her energy sword into the Elite's leg. Blood flowed from the wound. The Elite roared in pain and fell over clutching It's leg. Eve then swung her energy sword into the air and brought it down into the creature's chest, killing it.

No sooner than a second passed before a barrage of blasts exploded in the room. But they were not aimed at Eve. They were going to and coming from a group of three Brutes and two Jackals in the corridor. They were standing in a large hole that led into a corridor. That where the door must have once stood.

Eve stood up and ran towards the fighting going on between the Brutes and Elites. Several stray blasts flew in her direction, which she managed to dodge. Eve tightened her grip on her energy sword and her plasma rifle, knowing that at least one of the Brutes would try and stop her.

Her vigilance did not go in vain. As Eve was just metres from the brutes, one of them, armed with a plasma rifle, spotted Eve and aimed his gun towards her. But before his finger had so much touched the weapon's trigger, Eve swung her energy sword and drove the weapon into the Brutes' chest. The Brute let out a weak breath before it fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

"DEMON!" one of the other Brutes yelled.

Eve looked up to see another Brute, armed with a Brute shot, swing his fist at her. Eve ducked. The Brute's fist missed her head by a mere millimetre and hit the wall. A loud cracking sound echoed throughout the corridor. The Brute roared in pain and clutched his hand. Eve saw her chance and swung her plasma rifle at the creature, hitting him in the head. The Brute fell onto the floor, out cold.

Before any more Covenant could so much look towards her, Eve ran down the corridor, pushing one of the Jackals to the floor, to the end. She turned right into a shorter corridor and within a few seconds, the noise of the battle had faded away.

"That was close," Eve said as she turned left into another short corridor that ended at a door. "How far are we from Truth?" she asked Auto.

"Not far," Auto answered. "All you have to do is go across to one more tower and then you should be able to catch up with him,"

"Good," Eve said.

Eve ran towards the door at the end of the corridor. It beeped loudly and opened. Eve ran through the open doorway onto another half-cylindrical platform with the blue circle near the edge of the platform, the large gap between it and another about one hundred feet ahead and the two rails above and below the gap.

A loud screech from above drew Eve's attention. She looked up to see a Drone fall to the ground in front of her. Who, or what, the hell did that?

Eve raised her plasma rifle and stepped out on to the platform. She was ready to fight whatever type of Covenant killed the Drone, but was it going to be an easy Covenant soldier to kill? That was the real question.

Suddenly, a barrage of blasts flew at Eve. She dived right, narrowly avoiding one of them hitting her. Then, a large figure hovered down onto the platform. Eve looked up and gulped. It was an Elite. What was worse, it was a jetpack Elite. In It's hands were two plasma rifles. Could this get any worse?

Then, another Elite touched down next to his comrade, also carrying two plasma rifles. Damn, I should not have said that! Both Elites raised their plasma rifles, aimed straight at Eve. She could not run because it would be over for her before she had even made it a foot away. Fighting them was not a good option either for they could easily activate their jetpacks and hover into the air and fire down at her. It looked like she was a goner.

The Elites pulled their weapons' trigger. Eve screamed and brought her weapons up in front of her as if they would protect her.

They did. As the barrage of blasts were fired at her, they hit the energy sword but did not break through it. They bounced off the sword and flew back towards the Elites. The two Covenant soldiers were taken by surprise and, before they could even blink, their own blasts hit their armour, lighting up their shields. The continuous barrage easily broke through the Elites' armour and penetrated their skin, killing them.

Eve slowly lowered her weapons as if in fear that the bodies would get back up and fire on her again. Her eyes were wide. Wow! She did not know that would happen with blasts when they hit an energy sword. She was going to have to use this weapon more often.

Eve got up and ran forward onto the blue circle. The circle lit up and Eve hovered several inches into the air before floating all the way over to the next platform. When she landed on it, she ran across the platform towards another door on the side of the tower. It beeped loudly and opened as she approached it, revealing a large room inside the tower. Eve ran through the open doorway.

She found herself at the top of a large slope that led down to another door on the wall at the bottom. Three of the large cylindrical-like objects were lined across both sides of the pathway and were spaced about ten feet from each other.

Eve raised her plasma rifle and ran down the slope pathway towards the bottom. Her vigilance level was at It's height because the last time she went into a room like this, three Brutes came charging out of the door at the top and fired down on her. Eve had only just managed to escape, with some help from Auto. Even though the Covenant were still too busy trying to kill each other, she was not taking any chances.

Thankfully, everything was fine in this room. Eve slowed down slightly as she reached the bottom of the slope pathway. The door at the bottom beeped loudly and opened, revealing a long dark purple corridor about forty feet long. At the end was a another door. Eve ran down the corridor towards the door.

Suddenly, when Eve was just over half-way down the corridor, a loud beep filled the air. It was coming from up ahead. The door at the other end of the corridor opened up. Three small figures ran out from the other side of the doorway, one after the other, into the corridor. Grunts. The door behind them closed. The three Grunts were all armed with needlers but they seemed to panicked to use them. What were they afraid of?

The answer came just a second later. The Grunts were too panic-stricken to notice Eve. Suddenly, another loud beep filled the corridor. The door behind the Grunts opened up again, only this time a Brute dressed in his honour guard uniform came charging out. He was beserking. The Grunts screamed and tried to run, but the Brute was too quick for them. He killed the first Grunt with a double fist strike that sent the alien flying head first into a wall, followed by a loud snapping sound. The second Grunt was thrown through the air and landed on It's back. The Brute then brought his foot down onto the helpless creature's neck, creating another loud snapping noise. The third Grunt fired a projectile from It's needler at the Brute. However, it barely did any damage at all. The Brute responded by flicking his arm round and hitting the Grunt in the head, hurling it into a wall and killing it instantly.

Eve gasped. That was horrible! Even though they were Covenant and they were her mortal enemies, she felt sorry for the Grunts. They had all just died horrible deaths and all because of some stupid 'Great Journey'. Even Covenant forces did not deserve anything like this, especially ones who were cowardly and fled if they had no one to lead them.

Eve's sorrow was quickly put out of her mind when the Brute looked up at her. He growled and clenched his hands into fists.

"Demon!" he said. "You will regret entering our holy city!"

Before Eve could blink, the Brute charged towards her. Luckily, she had a weapon that could easily take care of him. Eve brought up her energy sword and charged towards the Brute. Both were like mad bulls determined to fight the other until one either dropped from exhaustion… or was killed.

When the two were just a mere metre from each other, Eve swung her energy sword at the Brute. The creature was caught off guard. The deadly weapon sliced into the Brute's chest. The creature fell forward onto the floor, Eve had to step aside so she was not knocked over, dead.

Then, the energy sword activator dropped to the floor. Eve knelt down and picked it up. It was stained with a bit of dark purple/black blood. She wiped it off using the Brute's strap. Eve went to activate it but the energy weapon did not come out of the activator. Eve swore under her breath. It was out of energy. She threw the activator on the floor and stood up.

"Let's just hope I don't get attacked by anymore Brutes," she muttered as she gazed at her plasma rifle.

Eve turned and ran down the corridor towards the door where the Grunts and the Brute came from. It beeped loudly and opened as she approached it. Eve ran into a long dark purple pathway. At the end was a large diamond shaped door leading into a large heart/sphere shaped structure. High in the air was a grey fog, which blocked out any view of the top of the structure

Then, Eve's eyes rested on other shapes that lay strewn across the floor. She looked at them to see they were bodies. Most of them were Elites. Minors, majors and even a few zealots and stealth's. Among them were a few honour guard Brutes, a few grunts and about two Jackals. Around them were their weapons. One of the Brutes' pikes had been left in a major Elite's chest. A pool of purple blood had formed underneath the creature and it was still growing as the wound on the creature's chest was leaking. It was horrible.

Eve shook the image out of her mind and ran down the pathway towards the diamond shaped door.

"I have listened to the oracle, and it confirmed our deepest hope," came Truth's voice. "The great Journey begins with Halo,"

"The Elites are falling back to the Mausoleum." came Tartarus' voice. "Fools! Their Arbiter can do nothing for them now!"

"Who would doubt the prophets?" Truth continued. "What have they foretold that has not come to pass?"

"I would definitely doubt you," Eve muttered under her breath.

"Join the club," Auto replied.

As Eve approached the diamond shaped door, a new wonder began to form in her mind. The Arbiter. She was wondering was he okay? Sure he tried to kill them earlier on at the library, but it was also then he discovered that his race had been stabbed in the back. In a way, she was hoping that he was alive.

"If we're going to catch Truth, then we'll need to take a shortcut," Auto said. "Go straight through the mausoleum."

"What about any Covenant in there?" Eve asked.

"Don't worry," Auto answered, reassuring Eve that it was safe, or he hoped it was. "Look on the bright side: for now, they seem much more interested in killing each other,"

Eve stopped outside the large diamond shaped door. It beeped and opened up, revealing a large circular shaped room with a silver pathway leading to a large hole with a light somewhere down or near the bottom of it. Hovering about six feet above the hole was a large object that looked like one of the prophets' chairs, only with a large ball shaped object built into where the actual seat was. Along the walls of the mausoleum going up to the ceiling were egg shaped doors with a red light on them. A small door was on the wall on the other side of the room.

A sudden roar caught Eve's attention. She looked to where it came from to see two honour guard Brutes engaged in a fist fight with a pair of minor Elites. Nearby, another two Brutes, near the small doorway, were firing on a pair of Elites and several Grunts hiding behind the remains of, what looked like, barricades.

Eve scanned the rest of the room. The body of another Brute lay on the floor in a pool of blood next to the hole. A few feet to her left were the bodies of three Jackals. At the other end of the room were several piles of bodies comprising of Drones, Grunts and even a few Elites and Brutes. Scattered around the floor of the mausoleum were many pools of blood. Light blue, purple, dark purple/black and green covered much of the floor. The Covenant really were fighting each other to a standstill.

Eve ran through the war torn room towards the door on the other side of the room. When she was about half-way across the room, a loud roar suddenly stopped her in her tracks. It came from behind. Eve looked over her shoulder to see the diamond shaped door close again, only this time another honour guard Brute was standing there. In his hands was a pike. Eve turned her body round so it was facing the Brute. The creature glared at her as if he had a personal score to settle with her. Eve gripped her plasma rifle tighter, ready for the upcoming fight.

Suddenly, the Brute brought his pike back and threw it at Eve. She merely stepped aside and the weapon flew past her and buried itself in the floor.

"Is that all you got?" Eve asked the creature in a taunting manner.

She got her answer when the Brute growled at her. Suddenly, clenched his hands into fists and charged towards her.

_Me and my big mouth!_ Eve thought as she dived right to avoid a double fist strike from the Brute.

Eve stood up and fired a barrage of red blasts at the Brute. The creature was hit repeatedly but was still up for a fight. He charged towards her. Eve saw this coming and dived left but the Brute had been expecting it. Just as she dived left, the creature brought both of his fists up in an upper jab, striking Eve in the stomach, knocking the plasma rifle out of her hand and winding her completely. Eve fell to the floor, groaning in pain with two arms around her stomach. The Brute stood over her and laughed.

"Your time has come demon!" he said. "Soon the Great Journey will begin and your world will burn!"

The Elite raised his foot over Eve's chest. He was going to foot slam her with all his might. He might end up crushing her heart. Eve closed her eyes and waited for the end to come.

BOOM! An explosion suddenly blew apart the back wall of the mausoleum. All fighting in the room ceased immediately. Eve opened her eyes and looked towards the hole in the back wall, where the back door used to be, to see several bulky figures walk out of the dust cloud.

They were Elites. All were dressed in silver armour, but the Elite in between the other two Elites had some kind of strange crown on his head. It was silver with two large tops separated by about three inches. The outer side of the tops went in a diagonal line down to two large sections of the crown that looked like enormous eyes. The inside of the tops were dead straight and went down to a curved bottom. The two 'eyes' of the crown connected to a large helmet-like part of the crown. At the bottom of the helmet was a kind of small piece of armour shaped like a shield with a small hole for eyes to look out of.

Eve then focused her attention back onto the Brute. He was facing the three new Elites with an angry look on his face. Good, he was still distracted.

Eve swung her foot up and hit the creature in the side of the jaw. The brute roared in pain. Eve stood up and swung her fist at the creature's head, hitting him in the cheek. The Brute growled and flicked his arm towards Eve. She ducked, narrowly missing the Brute's arm. She then punched with both fists into the Brute's stomach, causing the creature to moan and fall onto It's knees.

Eve ran towards the hole in the back wall. Around the room, the fighting had resumed. Three stealth Elites arriving would make no difference. The Elites there were armed with energy swords. She was completely unarmed and going back to get her plasma rifle would most likely end up with another fight with the Brute. This time, Eve was faced with three Elites, all of who were armed with energy swords and most likely the worst battlefield rank to get.

The Elite with the crown saw her and shouted something. The two stealth Elites charged towards Eve, their energy swords brought back ready to strike. Eve did not run or charge towards the Elite. She just stood there. The two Elites laughed as their enemy was finally unarmed and in the right place to kill. They were just eight feet away. Still Eve did nothing. Six feet, still nothing. Four. Three…

The Elites brought their energy swords back and swung them at Eve. That was when she made her move.

Just when the energy weapons were inches from her, Eve ducked and, at the same time, swung her leg across the floor. It hit one of the stealth Elites and caused the creature to fall faced down onto the floor. The energy sword fell to the floor next to the Elite. The other stealth Elite, who was stunned by the sudden attack, brought his sword down towards Eve. She rolled sideways, narrowly missing the weapon, and grabbed the energy sword from the Elite she knocked over. She then swung it round and embedded it into the Elite's chest. The stealth Elite let out a weak breath before it fell onto the floor, dead. Eve then launched a kick at the other stealth Elite as it groaned and lifted It's head up from the floor. The foot hit the Elite in the cheek. The head thudded to the floor, out cold.

A growl from up ahead caught Eve's attention. She looked up to see the Elite with the crown clutching his energy sword tighter. Eve stood to face the creature, her energy sword in It's striking position. Both were ready to fight the other. The question was; who was going to strike first?

"What kind of Elite am I facing, Auto?" Eve asked.

"A councillor," Auto answered. "They never go into battle but they are trained with the best tactics and battle moves. Be careful, Eve,"

Eve nodded and gripped her energy sword tighter.

Then, all of a sudden, the first move of the fight began.

But it was not started by Eve or the Elite councillor, although it was close to being started by the alien.

Just as the Elite was about to charge towards Eve, the Brutes from the fist fight going on in the corner of the room charged over and attacked him. Even though Eve was here as well, they wanted to kill the councillor. It was their orders anyway. Truth had told them that if any councillors are seen, then they must be killed before they can escape no matter what. Even though they were still most likely to chase her, Eve knew that the three could be fighting for a while.

Eve ran past the three Covenant into the four way intersection corridor on the other side. The door opposite her opened as she approached it. Eve ran through the open doorway onto a long outside causeway with a silver path leading all the way to another tower about eighty feet ahead. The path then went around the side of the tower. Several cylindrical shaped objects were lined along both sides of the silver path and were spaced about thirty feet from each other. Several half-circle like rails stuck up about twenty feet into the air and went over the causeway from one side of the other.

Eve ran down the causeway towards the tower. When she was about half-way across the causeway, Auto's voice crackled to life again.

"Hang on," he said. "I'm picking up two human vital signs. It's the commander, Mary, and John. And I've got someone else as well… It's Wally!"

Eve gasped. Mary, John and Wally were here as well? Why were they here? Truth would not need them for anything, unless… He was going to use them, or at least one of them, to activate the ring. Now it really was a race against time.

"Where are they?" Eve asked.

"They're closing in on Truth's position." Auto answered. "They're up ahead on the other side of that tower. Hurry!"

Eve ran down the pathway as fast as her legs would go. She had to get to Truth and Mary and John quickly before they left with the Index. If they did, then there was no chance Truth could be stopped in activating the ring.

As Eve reached the tower, Auto's voice came back again. Only this time, he sounded more concerned and urgent.

"This is not good," he said. "I'm getting confirmed reports of Flood leaving Amber Clad's wreckage. Let's get the Index, free Mary, John and Wally and find a way out of here before things get really out of hand,"

**Meanwhile, moments earlier**

**(This takes place around about the time when Eve is going through the mausoleum)**

On the other side of the tower, about fifty feet down from the pathway to the mausoleum, a small pathway led off to a large circular platform. Around the edges of the platform were three phantoms parked sideways. Hovering in the middle of the platform were Truth and Mercy's hover chairs. The prophets were sitting in them. Behind them, the enormous pyramid-like structure shining brightly as it dominated the skyline of the city. It looked as though some god had come down and was looking at the creation of this alien world.

Mercy had a concerned/worried expression on his face. Every now and then, he would glance at a tower just over a thousand feet away. In the side of the tower was the wreckage of the human ship Amber Clad. What was also terrifying was that coming out from many large holes in the ship were large tentacles. It was obvious that something big had travelled with the parasite to High Charity.

"Oh, I wish Tartarus would hurry," Mercy said. "The parasite is most probably on It's way here,"

"Calm down, brother," Truth replied, silencing Mercy. "Tartarus is coming."

Truth looked down at his hand. Resting in the palm was the Index. Truth smiled to himself.

_Now we can begin the Great Journey and be rid of the Human filth!_ he thought.

Just then, a door on the tower's end of the pathway opened up. Truth and Mercy looked up to see Tartarus march out of the tower. His Fist of Rukt was placed in the strap on his back. Behind him were three other Brutes. One was holding Mary's hand behind her back. Another was pushing John along with his hands tied together in some kind of metallic strap. Wally was being urged on with a hand up against his back.

The group walked onto the pathway that led to the platform. As they did, Wally caught a glimpse of the Amber Clad's wreckage. He looked and saw the tentacles sticking out of the ship.

"He's here," he whispered in a shocked tone. "The _Inferi Sententia_ is here."

"Keep moving," the Brute behind Wally growled, giving him a slight push that almost sent Wally onto the floor.

Wally looked back at the wreckage once more before walking onwards. He was still distressed over what happened earlier on. Eve and the Arbiter were dead, having been killed by Tartarus' Fist of Rukt. There was nothing he could do. If he even tried to run, he was as good as dead. And so would John and Mary. Even though he had only known them for a short while, they were friends of Eve. And if they were her friends, then that meant just as much to him to protect and stand by them as he did with Eve.

As the group walked onto the platform, Tartarus looked over his shoulder.

"Split them up," he ordered. "One in each phantom,"

The brutes nodded and pushed the three prisoners towards the waiting phantoms. John was heading towards the far left phantom, Mary to the middle one and Wally to the far right. As John passed Truth, he glared at him and mouthed something. Most likely _"Your dead!"_ or _"I'm gonna kill you!"_ Truth noticed this but only smiled and chuckled slightly.

Tartarus stopped about six feet in front of the prophets. He knelt down and bowed his head.

"The hopes of all the Covenant rest on your shoulders, Chieftain," Truth said as he handed Tartarus the Index.

"My faith is strong, noble hierarchs," Tartarus replied, taking the Index. "I promise you, I will not fail,"

Tartarus was about to get up when…

_HIIISSSSSSSS_

The Brute chieftain, the prophets and Mary and her captor looked towards the edge of the platform. There was nothing. Perhaps they were imagining the hiss. Yes, that must be the-

Suddenly, a swarm of five creatures moved up from underneath the platform onto It's surface. Flood infection forms! As soon as they were on the platform, they moved towards the five targets ahead of them.

"Keep hold of her!" Mary's Brute barked to another Brute inside the phantom as he ran over Tartarus' side.

Tartarus clenched his hands into fists, as did the other Brute and stood in front of the prophets to protect them. The infection forms moved closer to their enemies to devour them and make them new members of the Flood.

When the infection forms were just inches from the Covenant, Tartarus swung his arm at them. It hit an infection form, causing it to burst. He then brought his foot down onto another infection form, crushing it. His Brute comrade grabbed an infection form and crushed it between his hands as if it were paper. He then slammed both of his fists together, killing another infection form that tried to jump up and kill him. That's four!

Suddenly, the last infection form jumped into the air. Tartarus went to grab it but he missed. However, the infection form was not aiming for the chieftain or his Brute comrade. It was planning to kill the prophets, and it had already chosen a target.

**"AHHH!"**

The infection form landed on Mercy's neck and began to eat away at it. Bits of flesh and blood flowed as the tentacles of the creature worked their way inside It's new meal. Mercy screamed and tried to pull the creature off him, but it was no use.

Tartarus walked over to kill the infection form. However, just as he was about to grab the creature, Truth stopped him.

"Let him be," the prophet said as he hovered over to Tartarus. He looked down at his struggling brother. "The Great Journey waits for no one, brother… Not even you,"

Truth turned his hover chair around and hovered over to the middle phantom. The Brute followed. Tartarus, however, stood where he was. Truth was letting his noble hierarch brother be taken by the Flood! Why? Mercy was just as important to the Covenant as Truth was! If he was killed, then his death would surely break up the Covenant as it almost had done when Regret was killed.

Tartarus looked down at his struggling leader. He wanted to save him, but Truth had given him the Index. He was the one who was to start the Great Journey. It was all up to him. If he failed, then he was going to be known as the biggest disgrace to the Covenant than anyone before It's history and in It's history to come. He looked down at the Index in his hand.

_I want to start the Great Journey_ he thought. _But Mercy is just as important to the Covenant._

Tartarus looked at Mercy once more. He was stuck in between the great Journey and saving the prophet. Which one was more important?

After a few seconds, Tartarus turned and walked towards the middle phantom, his mind made up.

Mary had watched all this in complete shock from the phantom. Truth really was not waiting for anyone on his quest to start the Great Journey. Not even a fellow prophet was worth waiting for.

And yet… Somehow, Mary thought the same way about Tartarus. Somewhere in her mind, she had a feeling that Truth was going to do the same to Tartarus as he had just done with Mercy.

In time, that would come to reveal itself or not.


	17. Uprising

**Meanwhile, on **_**Delta Halo**_

**(This chapter takes place around about the time Eve arrives in High Charity)**

_Delta Halo_. Like the last Halo, it was covered with a variety of landscapes much like that of Earth's. Rainforests, islands, blue seas, valleys, forests. It had It's own natural beauty that could have been anyone's dream world to escape to in times of crisis. But, like the last Halo, this ring had been constructed by the Forerunners. Even though, they had covered the inside of the ring with many natural landscapes, they knew that all this was here only because of machinery. None of it was here because of light from nearby stars or from anything in the core of the ring. It was all because of machines.

One area of _Delta Halo_ was a large rainforest-like area that was scattered around a valley/mountain region. It had many paths along the mountains leading into or from the valleys. Some valleys were only the size of a small room whilst others were the width and height of a skyscraper. Scattered around the sides and bottom of them were many caves. Several structures were even built into the mountain walls, which you could enter and exit through doors built into the side of the mountain.

On a small pathway leading from the edge of a cliff into a small clearing-like area, a gold light appeared. It grew bigger and bigger until it disappeared, however, there was a figure standing where the light was. It was the Arbiter.

The Arbiter scanned his surroundings. The edge of the cliff led down to some kind of massive shoreline, the sea was visible just a few hundred metres away. However, much of his view was covered by a large structure just several hundred feet away outside a large valley entrance. The structure had an enormous cube shaped base with a large sphere centre. Coming out of the top of the sphere were three large metal towers that were shaped like Covenant beam rifles, with the bottom of the 'rifle' towers facing each other. The towers were in a triangle formation. Near the bottom of the gap between the three towers, the Arbiter could just about see the end of some kind of silo. A small pathway stuck out of the front of the structure towards the enormous valley entrance.

The Arbiter turned so he facing the pathway that had rock walls on both It's right and left side, the left side being part of a mountain. The pathway led to a mountain wall before turning right. Scattered along the rock were several growing plants and, alongside the path, several small gaps. So he had been beamed here?

The Arbiter began to remember what he had faced over the past few hours. He was blasted off the platform by Tartarus into the large tunnel with the demon, or Eve. They were then captured, or more likely saved, by that enormous creature who told them to search a spot for the key, which was the Index. What was confusing about this was that Tartarus had the Index, so it, along with him, was certain to be up in _High Charity_.

So why had the creature beamed him here? Unless Tartarus or the prophets, or all three, planned on coming here, there was no real reason why he was here. By the looks of it, the Arbiter was going to have to find out the answer himself.

The Arbiter walked down the pathway towards the end. After about ten feet, he suddenly stopped. His eyes locked onto something lying in a small gap on his left. The Arbiter leaned forward and saw it was a plasma rifle. However, around the weapon was a purple mark. Blood. Elite blood. Who, or what, the hell caused made this?

The Arbiter picked up the weapon and raised it as he continued down the path. After another ten feet, he froze again. Only this time, he saw something bigger. It was in a small bush on a small gap on the right rock wall. The Arbiter aimed his plasma rifle and stepped towards the thing in the bush. As he approached it, he saw the thing was an arm with blue armour across. The Arbiter stepped closer and saw the arm was connected to a body.

It was a minor Elite.

The Arbiter knelt down next to the body and placed a hand on the Elite's chest. The coldness ran though him as if he had been locked in a freezer. The Elite had been dead for some time. He had several blast marks across his chest. The Arbiter stood up and scanned the area. Whoever, or whatever, may still be in the area, waiting to kill anything that came across.

The Arbiter raised his plasma rifle and continued down the path towards the end. As he approached the stone wall at the back, the turning became visible. The Arbiter turned right into another pathway, about half the length of the previous pathway, that had several small bushes and gaps along It's walls and led to another ledge, giving the Arbiter another clear view of the enormous structure and the coastline behind it, before turning left. Another rock wall covered most of the left side of the pathway.

The Arbiter walked down the pathway towards the turning, his plasma rifle raised. When he was about halfway down the path, the Arbiter saw another thing in a small gap on the path's right side. He walked towards it and saw it was another arm covered in blue armour. Another minor Elite. It was turned on It's side but the Arbiter could see that the creature had blast marks across It's chest and a small pool of blood leaking out of the side of It's stomach. The Arbiter knelt down and placed a hand on the Elite's chest.

"Uuuuuggh!"

The Arbiter went wide-eyed. The Elite was still alive! The Arbiter pulled the body over. He gasped. This Elite was an old friend of his. It was Kasen. The two had worked on the same ship when the Arbiter was a fleet commander.

"A… Ar… Arbiter," Kasen said weakly as he coughed up a bit of blood.

"Kasen," the Arbiter replied. "What happened?" he asked his dying friend.

"The Brutes," Kasen answered. "T-they have… b…be…betrayed us. Th-they ar- are murdering…the councillors,"

The Arbiter growled. Tartarus was right about one thing. The Brutes were planning on killing the Elites on the prophets' orders. A great schism was most likely taking place now in and around High Charity.

"Are there any more of our forces scattered around this area?" the Arbiter asked Kasen.

"Yes," Kasen managed to say. "We… had several units here,"

Kasen coughed again. His breaths slowly got weaker. His bleeding arm slowly lifted up into the air. In his hand was an energy sword activator.

"Take my blade," he said weakly. "I will… no longer be… needing it,"

The Arbiter took the activator from his friend. A second later, Kasen's head thudded to the ground and he moved no more.

The Arbiter breathed deeply and clenched his hand into a fist. It even shook slightly because the Arbiter was seething with anger. The Brutes had begun to massacre the Elites mercilessly. They were supposed to be allies and help begin the Great Journey, not fight over it and who gets to protect the prophets. The Brutes were going to pay, no matter how many Elites they had killed.

Suddenly, a deep voice filled the air. It was coming from up ahead. The Arbiter stood up and dived into a bush in a gap in the left rock wall. He moved aside some leaves, leaving a gap just big enough for his eyes to look down the pathway.

Out from the left came a tall figure with brown fur, thick muscles and a strap around It's chest and back. A Brute. In his hand was a Brute plasma rifle. The Brute walked over to Kasen's body and looked down at it. He laughed and fired several blasts at the body.

The Arbiter felt pure anger rise up through him as if he were a thermometer. He wanted to charge out of the bush, grab the Brute and make it go through the most painful death he could think of. Or maybe he could just push him over the edge of the pathway and make him see what it feels like to die painfully like Kasen did.

The Arbiter activated his energy sword and slowly stood up. The Brute fired another burst of red blasts at Kasen's body. He was too distracted to notice the Arbiter step out of the bush and creep up on him from behind.

Then, when the Arbiter was a few feet behind the Brute, he swung his energy sword at the creature. The Brute screamed loudly as the weapon cut into his skin. Blood flowed and leaked onto the ground. The Brute let out a weak gasp for breath before he dropped to the ground, dead.

"I heard him scream!" the Arbiter heard another deep voice, that came from the other side of the left rock wall, say.

"Go check it out!" another deep voice ordered.

Heavy footfalls filled the air. More Brutes were coming over to check out the scream. The Arbiter ran back into the bush and watched as two more Brutes, both armed with Brute shots, ran into the pathway. They stopped next to the body of their comrade.

"There must be an Elite still here somewhere," one of the Brutes said.

"We must find and kill him," the other Brute replied.

The two Brutes raised their weapons and walked up the pathway towards the top. They were completely unaware that one of their enemies was hiding in the bush. Even when they walked right past it, they were still unaware. Perfect. The Arbiter quietly stood up and crept out of the bush after the Brutes.

When he was about three feet from the Brutes, he swung his energy sword at them. The deadly weapon cut into the backs of the Brutes. Their roars of pain filled the air like lions fighting over pride leadership. Blood poured out of the wounds and created a pool on the ground. Both fell to the ground, dead.

The Arbiter turned and ran to the end of the path. When he reached it, he pressed his back up against the rock wall and peeked his head out from behind it to look into the next pathway. The next pathway was actually a small circular clearing that led into a larger one through a gap between two small rock walls. Several large rocks were visible in the large clearing and a small pathway, at the back of the clearing, led up to the top of a small hill near the left side of the larger clearing.

Then, two Brutes ran out from behind a large rock. One of them had a small red flag attached to the strap on his back, probably meaning he was the captain. The two Brutes, armed with plasma rifles, ran right and disappeared behind the right small rock wall. The Arbiter ran into the smaller clearing up to the rock wall. He pressed his back up against and shuffled over into the next clearing.

"Fools!" the Arbiter heard one of the Brutes say. "You Elites are no match for us now!"

A faint gasping/breathing sound came directly after the Brute finished speaking. The Arbiter knew that they had just found another Elite.

A burst of blast fire filled the air. They had just the Elite. Pure anger rose up through the Arbiter. The Brutes really were going to pay for what they have done.

The Arbiter raised his energy sword and ran out into the clearing. The two Brutes were standing on the edge of the clearing. A few feet in front of them was the structure and, behind that, the coastline. On the floor next to the two Brutes were the bodies of two minor Elites. The Arbiter charged towards the Brutes and swung his energy sword at them. Two loud roars of pain filled the air. The Brutes were hit so hard that not only did blood pour out of the wounds on their back, but they were thrown forward over the edge of the clearing to the ground far below.

The Arbiter looked down at his fallen brethren. They had most likely been surprised by the Brutes. Well, at least now they had died in vain. The Arbiter had avenged their deaths and there were going to be plenty more Brutes following the ones he had just killed.

The Arbiter turned and ran towards the pathway at the back of the clearing. When he reached it, he ran up the pathway. Something was at the top of the pathway. As the Arbiter got closer, he could see it was a diamond shaped door built into the side of the mountain. Even though this was a different Halo, much was still like what was on the original Halo before it was destroyed.

The Arbiter stopped as he reached the top of the pathway. He could see the clearing from this view. Before going on, maybe he could have a quick look to see the natural beauty of this area. The Arbiter did so, but it was not natural beauty he saw. It was bodies.

Those bodies were Elite ones. There were at least ten of them. Most of them were in the corner on the ground just below the Arbiter. The rest were either by the edge of the clearing or were placed behind rocks. Two of them were zealot Elite, three were major and the rest were minor. Their weapons lay on the ground near them. They had no chance to defend themselves, and they were still killed. Kasen was right. Truth really had order the destruction of the Elite race from the Cov-

"Stay where you are, Arbiter!" a voice behind him growled.

The Arbiter shot round to see two Brutes standing just feet away from him. Both were armed with Brute shots and had their weapons aimed directly at him. They must have come out of the door whilst the Arbiter had his back turned.

"If you so much twitch, we will kill you!" one of the Brutes growled as he placed his finger on his weapon's trigger.

The Arbiter stepped back. Even with his energy sword, the Brutes had an advantage over his speed. Distance. They were too far away from him. If he tried to strike he, like they said, would be killed.

"Why don't you save us the trouble of killing you and jump to the ground head first?" one of the Brutes joked.

They laughed. The Arbiter growled and clenched his free hand into a fist. He just wanted to strike at the Brutes and kill them but he was still trapped between them and edge of the hill. Looks like he was a goner.

The two brutes stopped laughing and placed their fingers on the weapon's triggers.

"Prepare to die, Arbi-AHHH!"

Suddenly, the Brute was thrown to the floor, a large wound mark on his back. The other Brute shot round, only to fall to the ground in a way as if he had been punched in the face. The Arbiter saw an energy sword floating in mid-air. It rose up and then came down and embedded itself into the Brute's chest. The Brute let out a weak breath before it went silent.

"Arbiter," a voice said.

The next thing the Arbiter knew, the outline of a figure was forming in front of him. First the legs, then a torso and then a pair of arms and finally a head. It was a minor Elite.

"I thought you were dead," the Elite said to the Arbiter.

The Arbiter shook his head.

"They did not quite kill me yet," he replied. "Are you the only one here?" he asked the Elite.

"As far as I know, yes," the Elite answered. "The last word I received from another Elite was a few hours ago and I have heard nothing…"

The Elite trailed off and walked towards the edge of the hill. He looked down at the bodies with wide eyes and a hung open mouth. His comrades, his brothers in arms. They were lying dead in front of him.

"By the prophets," the Elite whispered, loud enough for the Arbiter to hear. "What have these Brutes done?" he asked himself.

"It is happening everywhere," the Arbiter answered the Elite's question, causing the creature to turn to face him. "The prophets have ordered our destruction from the Covenant,"

The Elite growled and clenched his hand into a fist.

"These Brutes have shed our brother's blood!" he growled. "And for that, they must die!"

BOOM! The two Elites looked over the edge of the hill to see a large pod-like object in the middle of the clearing. It looked much like a human cryo-tube, only it was bigger and had a darker colour. It was an Insertion Drop Pod, mainly used by Elites. They could be launched from ships to a distance of around twenty miles away. Sometimes, they could even be launched from space.

A loud bang came from inside the pod, which the Arbiter and the Elite next to him clearly heard. Then, the side of the pod flew off and crashed into one of the rocks. Out of the pod came a zealot Elite carrying an energy sword.

"A zealot!" the Elite next to the Arbiter said. "So much for a stealthy advance,"

"Bah!" the two heard the zealot Elite growl. "Over so soon?"

It was obvious he really wanted to kill the Brutes for what they had done.

BOOM! BOOM! Two more pods landed at the bottom of the pathway. A second later, they both burst open and two minor Elites stepped out. One was carrying two plasma rifles, the other was carrying two needlers. The Elites, along with the zealot, ran up the pathway towards the Arbiter and the Elite.

"Make haste, there are more Brutes to kill!" the zealot said to the two as they reached them.

The squad ran towards the diamond shaped door, causing it to open. The squad found themselves in an L shaped room with thick glass floors, cream coloured walls, that had Forerunner marking engraved in them, and several pillars coming off of the sides of the walls and going up to the ceiling. The squad ran down the room and turned left. A door on the wall ahead of them opened as they approached it.

The Elites found themselves on a rock pathway, in a large dug out room, that led to a half circular glass platform that hung over a large hole. It was dimly lit in the room. About ten feet above the platform, to the right, was another rock pathway that led to the back of the room. There was a small gold wall around the edge of the circular platform. A large tower stuck out of the middle of the platform and went up to the rock ceiling, leaving a small pathway around the tower to the other side.

"Help!" a high pitched voice shouted from somewhere up ahead.

The squad looked ahead and saw two Grunts appear at the end of the rock pathway above the platform. They were armed with plasma pistols.

"Arbiter!" one of them shouted. "Help! Brutes!"

"We must hurry," the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter ran down the pathway onto the platform; the squad followed. The Arbiter ran around the tower. Ahead of him was a small rock pathway that led up to the path the Grunts were on. On the wall at the back of the top pathway, the Arbiter could just about see the top of a diamond shaped door.

Then, two Brutes jumped down from the top pathway onto the floor. They were both armed with plasma rifles.

"Your time has come, Arbiter!" one of them growled.

The Arbiter dived behind the tower as a barrage of blasts flew at him. They hit the side of the tower, one narrowly missing the Arbiter's foot as he moved it behind his cover.

"How many of them are there?" the Elite with the two needlers asked as the squad reached the Arbiter.

"Just two," the Arbiter answered.

The Elite pressed It's back against the side of the tower. Several blasts hit the side of the Elite's cover. The Elite stuck both of It's needlers out from the tower and fired. The air was filled with purple projectiles as they flew at the Brutes. The creatures were hit repeatedly and the projectiles piled up on them, making them look like some kind of porcupine. Then…

BOOM! The projectiles exploded. The explosion was so powerful that both Brutes were lifted several feet into the air and almost ended up landing on the path above them.

"Good work," the Arbiter said as he stood up.

The Arbiter ran out from behind the tower towards the pathway; the squad followed. When they reached it, they turned right and ran up a small path that led up to where the Grunts were. When they reached it, the Grunts ran over to them like lost children looking for their parents.

"What happened?" the Arbiter asked the two Grunts.

"Ambush!" one of the Grunts answered. "Brutes ambush and kill our brothers."

"We kill Brutes!" the other Grunt said in an angry tone. "Brutes pay for killing brothers!"

"There they are!" a voice from behind the squad shouted.

The Elites shot round to see the diamond shaped door at the end of the pathway close, only this time two Brutes, armed with plasma rifles, and four Drones were in front of it. Before the squad could even blink, the Brutes fired a barrage of blasts at their enemies, causing the Elites to dive for cover, whilst the Drones took off to try and cause panic and confusion amongst the Covenant squad.

The Arbiter, who had taken cover behind a small rock on the other side of the pathway with the Elite with the two plasma rifles, looked up from behind his cover, only to duck down again as a blast flew over the rock, narrowly missing his head.

"They have us pinned down!" he growled.

A loud yell filled the room. The Arbiter looked behind him to see one of the Grunts lying dead on the floor. The other Grunt immediately screamed and, blinded by panic, ran towards the Brutes waving It's arms in the air in terror.

The zealot Elite, who was hiding on the raised pathway with the needler Elite, grabbed the Grunt and pulled him behind their cover.

"Keep yourself calm, will you!" he growled at the Grunt.

The Elite with the two plasma rifles suddenly felt his armour's shield light up. It was a blast. It came from above. He looked up and saw a Drone clinging to the side of the rock wall. He raised his plasma rifles and fired up at the Drone. The creature screeched loudly as it was hit before falling onto the ground next to the rock, dead. It's plasma pistol fell down next to the creature's body.

At the sight of the plasma pistol, the Arbiter had an idea. He grabbed the weapon and held his finger down on the trigger. A large green ball began to charge up on the front of the pistol. After a few seconds, the Arbiter quickly stood up and fired the shot towards the two Brutes before ducking back down behind the rock again, narrowly missing another blast.

Just a second later, a loud roar filled the air. The barrage of blasts immediately stopped. The Elites looked out from behind their cover to see one of the Brutes with a hand clutched around his left arm. A small trickle of blood was just visible seeping out between the Brute's fingers. The zealot Elite saw the chance and jumped onto the pathway and charged towards the Brutes, energy sword at the ready.

"Long have I waited to do this!" he shouted happily.

When the zealot Elite was about two feet from the Brutes, he swung his energy sword at his two enemies. The first Brute, who went to grab his comrade's weapon, was hit in the back. He let out a weak breath before falling forward onto the floor, dead. The zealot Elite then swung his energy sword at the second Brute, hitting the creature in the chest. The Brute roared in pain and collapsed onto his knees before it fell forward onto the ground, dead.

With the brutes dead, the Arbiter aimed his plasma pistol up and fired two shots at a Drone clinging onto the side of the tower. They hit the creature and it fell to the platform floor, dead. The Elite with the two needlers fired a barrage of purple projectiles at the last two as they flew over to the diamond shaped door. Both were hit and screeched loudly as they fell to the ground, dead.

"Continue on," the Arbiter ordered.

The Arbiter stood up and ran up towards the diamond shaped door; the squad followed. The door opened as the Arbiter approached it, revealing another L shaped room to the squad. However, this one was much different.

Strewn about against the walls and on the floor were bodies. Most of them were Elite and Grunt. Their blood was scattered about across the floor and on the walls. There were very few weapons in the room, meaning they were also most likely to have been taken by surprise and slaughtered without mercy.

"By the rings," the Elite with the needlers gasped as he almost dropped his weapons in shock.

"The Brutes will pay for this!" the zealot Elite growled.

"We shall avenge their deaths," the Arbiter told the squad. "But we must find a way through this mountain and find any more survivors as well,"

The Arbiter ran ahead of the squad and turned left around the corner; the squad followed. The door they approach opened up. The squad run into a large rectangular shaped room that had gold coloured walls, silver floors and a raised level, about fifteen feet high, overlooking the rest of the room. A small slope pathway to the left of the raised section went down to the floor below. Four large gold pillars stuck out of the lower floor in the room and went up to the ceiling. Like before, the pillars, floor and walls were engraved with Forerunner markings.

"We have slaughtered all of them here," a voice said.

The Arbiter held up a hand, signalling the squad to hold their position, and crept forward. When he was about seven feet from the edge of the raised level, he could just about see several Brutes standing around the room. Scattered around the walls on the lower level of the room were more Elite and Grunt bodies. Their blood was scattered up the walls and across the floor. Another diamond shaped door was on the back wall of the room a few feet from the Brutes.

"Once we have killed them here, we shall drive them from the structure near the back of the valley," a Brute said.

"Have we heard anything from High Charity?" another Brute asked.

"They sent us a transmission moments ago saying that High Charity is under attack by a lone human," another Brute, who was leaning against one of the pillars, answered.

The Brutes had very little idea on who this lone human was. The Arbiter, however, knew perfectly well who it was. The demon, or Eve. That creature had beamed her to High Charity. That was where Tartarus and the prophets were. Even though the demon is, or was, his enemy, the Arbiter began to hope that she would kill Tartarus if she managed to reach him.

The Arbiter went to move back towards the squad.

Suddenly, a loud screech filled the air. It was coming from the slope pathway. The Arbiter, and the squad, looked and saw it was a Jackal. The creature activated It's shield and fired a shot from It's plasma pistol at the Arbiter, which he managed to dodge and fired back at the Jackal, only to hit the shield.

The Jackal went to fire again when a barrage of blue blasts hit the shield. The continuous barrage broke through the shield and hit the creature in the chest, side and head. The Jackal fell forward onto the floor, dead.

"The Jackals are with the Brutes?" the zealot half-shouted. "How dare they!"

"THE ARBITER!" one of the Brutes on the room's lower level yelled, pointing up at him. "He's still alive!"

"Kill him!" another Brute ordered, drawing out his Brute shot.

The Elites ran over to the edge of the upper level and fired down at the Brutes, who retaliated with their own gunfire up at the Elites. The Elite with the needlers fired a barrage of purple projectiles at one of the Brutes with a Brute shot. The projectiles piled up on the Brute and exploded, killing the creature. The light blue blasts from the Elite with the plasma rifles hit one of the remaining Brutes, armed with a plasma rifle, in the face and chest. After a few seconds, the creature fell to the floor, dead.

The Arbiter and the zealot Elite jumped down onto the room's lower level floor and charged towards the remaining two Brutes. The Arbiter swung his energy sword at one of the Brutes, who was hiding behind one of the pillars. The weapon cut into the creature's chest. The Brute roared in pain as blood flowed from the wound. Then, he dropped dead onto the floor. The zealot threw a punch at the other Brute, who had stepped back a few paces whilst he was cooling down his plasma rifle, hitting the creature in the jaw. The Brute growled and swung his weapon like a club at the Elite, which he dodged and swung his energy sword into the Brutes' leg. The Brute screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor. The zealot then brought the sword up and drove it into the Brute's chest, killing it.

The Arbiter pulled his energy sword out of the Brute's body. That was one squad of them out of the way, but plenty more of them would follow within a few minutes. The squad had to get moving.

The Arbiter went to continue when he heard a whimpering sound coming from behind. He, along with the squad, turned to see a small figure cowering with It's hands over It's head in the corner of the upper level's wall among two Grunt bodies. The Arbiter walked over to the cowering figure to see it was a Grunt. In It's hand was a plasma pistol. Just before he could speak, the squad's Grunt ran past the Arbiter up to his cowering brother.

"Brother!" it squeaked. "Your okay,"

The cowering Grunt lowered It's hands and saw the Arbiter and the Elites. Immediately, the alien whimpered.

"Please, no hurt!" it squeaked. "Me like Elites! Brutes stinky bad-bad!"

"We will not harm you," the Arbiter replied. "Do you know of any survivors from your squad?" he asked the Grunt.

"No," the Grunt answered, lowering It's hands, relieved that the Elites were not here to kill him. "Brutes massacred everyone! Hundreds inside the mountain!"

"The prophets must have sent a larger force down than we anticipated," the zealot Elite said.

The Arbiter nodded in agreement. If the Grunt was right, then they were going to have one hell of a fight ahead of them.

"We must continue on, regardless," he announced. "There could still be survivors here,"

"Me stay here!" the cowering Grunt suggested, hoping for a yes. "Me stay here and make sure no Brutes come behind mighty Arbiter,"

"Me stay too," the other Grunt said. "We guard path,"

The Arbiter nodded.

"Very well," he said. "The rest of you, move out,"

The Arbiter turned and ran towards the door at the back of the room. It opened as he approached it. The squad followed. They ran into another L shaped room that was, like the last, covered with bodies lined up against the walls. This time, however, most were Grunts. There were two dead Jackals among the bodies.

The Elite with the two plasma rifles walked over to a dead Grunt. He knelt down and pulled the body towards him. The Grunt was covered with blood and blast marks. It had obviously been hit hard like those the squad had seen before. The Elite sighed and stood up.

"He is no more," he said.

The zealot Elite walked past the Elite and kicked one of the Jackals' bodies. It flew into the wall and fell to the floor again, leaving a purple trail of blood on the wall.

"These traitors do not deserve to live!" he growled. "For once, I wish the parasite would come down here and kill them all!"

"The Brutes will pay for what they have done," the Arbiter said as he walked down the room towards the diamond shaped door on the wall. "When we get out of this mountain, we will kill any who cross us,"

The door ahead of the Arbiter opened up, revealing a large square shaped room with a small wall going across from one side of the room to the other. A small pathway went over a large trench-like hole from the Elite's side to another large space of floor where another wall went across the other side of the trench. Another diamond shaped door was on the back wall.

The Arbiter raised his plasma pistol and walked into the room; the Elites followed. When they were all inside the room, the diamond shaped door at the back of the room opened and a squad of four Brutes, all armed with plasma rifles, charged out into the room. They immediately fired on the Elites and took cover behind the wall on their side.

The Elites dived behind the wall on their side. They were outgunned. They had only three members of their squad holding weapons. All four of the Brutes were holding weapons and were firing against and over the wall. The Elites were pinned down and could only just return fire once or twice. They had to do something.

The zealot Elite growled.

"We will never get through them as long as they are here," he said.

"Do not worry," the Arbiter replied. "I have an idea."

The Arbiter went prone and began to crawl towards the pathway that went over the trench. The Brutes were too busy firing on the Elites to notice. Then again, the wall was about four feet high so it would have been hard to see what was going on anyway. Closer and closer, the Arbiter inched his way to the path over the trench.

Then, he stopped dead.

Damn! There was one big problem in his plan. There was no wall on either side of the pathway. He would be completely exposed if he went over it and he would certainly be killed if he tried crawling over an exposed pathway. The only other options were; get back behind the wall and try and blast their way out, there was no way that was going to happen, or run across the bridge and try and kill all the Brutes.

The Arbiter made his decision.

The Brutes were barely having to take cover behind their wall. They had the Elites pinned down. One of the Brutes laughed.

"This is getting to be too easy," he said.

One of the Brutes knelt down and held his plasma rifle over the floor. It began to hiss loudly and a red cloud was coming out of the front where the blasts would come from. It was cooling down. The problem with plasma rifles, both Brute and normal, is that if left firing for too long, they can overheat and need time to cool down. This happens with most plasma based weapons. Luckily, after a few moments, the weapon will be useable again.

The cloud began to fade away. The Brute grunted and was about to stand up to resume firing on the Elites.

"AHHHH!"

Suddenly, the Brute was thrown to the floor. A pool of blood began to form underneath him. The other Brutes stopped and looked at their fallen comrade. Standing over him was the Arbiter. In his hand was his energy sword.

"Kill him!" one of the Brutes shouted.

Before the Brutes could so much as turn to fire on the Arbiter, the other Elites saw their chance and rose up from behind the wall. Now it was their turn.

A barrage of blasts and projectiles exploded in the room. The Brutes were hit continuously by the blasts and were getting a lot of pain from the projectiles as they embedded themselves in their arms, chest and side. Finally, one of the Brutes fell to the floor, dead. Another quickly followed. The last brute ducked behind the wall, hoping it would protect him, only to get an energy sword to the face. The Brute let out a weak breath and fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

"Now they can rest in their cesspool blood!" the zealot Elite said as he kicked the body of one of the Brutes.

"There will be more where they came from." the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter ran towards the diamond shaped door at the back of the room; the Elites followed. It opened as they approached it, revealing another L shaped room that turned right. This room was also covered with bodies of dead Grunts and Elites. This time there were a few Drones and Jackals scattered among the dead.

The Elites ran right around the corner towards the diamond shaped door on the back wall, causing it to open. The Elites ran through the open doorway into a long corridor that went left. About half-way down the corridor, the floor went into a kind of slope that led down to a door at the bottom. The Elites ran down the corridor and down the slope to the bottom. The door opened as they approached it. The Elites ran though the doorway

They found themselves in a large valley with two enormous rock walls, one of them being where the door was built into, hundreds of feet high. Large caves and small pathways were dotted around them. Through the gap between the two rock walls, the Elites could see the dark clouds gathering in the sky. It looked like it was going to rain.

The valley led left but to the right was an enormous drop that led down into another valley, that was much bigger than the valley the Elites were in, and the enormous structure in front of the coastline was visible.

The Arbiter walked towards the right end of the valley and looked out at the structure, then at the bigger valley's floor about three hundred feet below. He could see the width of the enormous rock wall that made up the left side of the valley. It was about one hundred and fifty feet wide and was much taller since half of it made up the right wall of bigger valley.

"That is where we will be best at defending," the Arbiter said to himself. He looked up at the enormous structure that was about three hundred feet in front of the valley "And we may even be able to find a way into that structure. The only problem is; how do we get down there?"

The Arbiter was right. How were they going to get down there? They could not jump, it was too far. The only other option was to go through the valley, and most likely more Brute resistance, and, hopefully, it will lead to a way down into the next valley.

The Arbiter turned and walked over to his Elites squad.

"Ready yourselves," he ordered. "We are going to have to fight our way into the next valley,"

The Arbiter ran ahead further into the valley; the Elites followed. About fifty feet ahead of them was a turning that led left. The Elites turned left into the next part of the valley. It was covered with large rocks along both rock walls and a small river came out of the right side of the valley and continued on past a right turning further ahead. The Elites ran towards the second turning.

Suddenly, the Arbiter screeched to a halt. He held up a hand and halted the rest of the squad as well.

"What is it?" the zealot Elite asked.

"I hear something," the Arbiter answered. "Listen,"

The Elites kept as quiet as mice to hear whatever it was the Arbiter had stopped them for. It was… some kind of whirring noise. The squad began to feel panic rise up through them. It could be anything. It could be a phantom or a banshee or a seraph fighter for all they knew.

Suddenly, an object zoomed out from behind the right tuning and headed straight for the Elites. It was a ghost. A Brute was driving it.

"SCATTER!" the Arbiter yelled.

The Elites dived out of the ghost's path as it charged full speed towards them. The vehicle drove past in a blue, missing the Arbiter by a few inches, leaving a blue line from It's engines behind. The Elites stood up, only to see the ghost turn a 180 degree angle and charged straight towards them again like an enraged bull.

The Elite with the needlers raised It's weapons and fired a barrage of projectiles at the vehicle. They easily broke through the armour and embedded themselves in the vehicle. The projectiles quickly piled up on the front of the vehicle. However, when they exploded they did very little damage to the ghost. The Brute driving the ghost retaliated by firing a barrage of blasts from the ghost's cannons at the Elites, who dived out of the way to avoid them and the ghost as it sped past them.

The Arbiter growled as he stood up. They could not keep this up forever. If they did, then by the time this Brute was dead more ghosts would be on top of them. The ghost did another 180 degree turn and charged towards the Elites, firing a barrage of blasts as it did. The Arbiter ran towards the path of the ghost. What he was going to be was risky and could end up killing him but he had to, at least, kill the Brute.

As the ghost came within a few metres of the zealot Elite, attempting to strike full speed into the creature and kill it, the Arbiter jumped onto the ghost and clung onto the side of the vehicle. The Brute growled at the seeing his unexpected passenger. The Arbiter grabbed the Brute's throat and pushed the creature against the back of the ghost's seat. The Brute threw a punch at the Arbiter, missing his face by a few centimetres. The Arbiter brought up his energy sword, in his other hand, whilst keeping hold of the Brute's throat and swung it into the Brute's chest. The Brute roared in pain and fell out of the ghost onto the ground. The Arbiter jumped off the vehicle and watched as it hit the ground and crashed into the rock wall.

"Nicely done, Arbiter," the zealot Elite said. "The Brutes are still weak. Even in their ghosts, they cannot defeat us,"

"Then we must be cautious," the Arbiter replied as he ran past the Elites. "They will have more ghosts where that came,"

The Elites followed the Arbiter down the path and around the right turning into the next part of the valley. The Arbiter stopped and held up a hand again. The squad halted and took in their surroundings.

They were in a large bowl shaped area with another valley pathway, towards the back of the bowl shaped area, leading off to the right. In the middle of the bowl area were two large rocks placed about twenty feet from each other. Scattered around the bowl area were more rocks but they were smaller than the two big ones in the middle of the bowl area. On top of one of them was a shade turret. In the pathway that led off to the right from the bowl area was a large rock. Another shade turret had been placed on top of that rock as well. The river they had seen turned left and disappeared inside a small hole in the rock wall.

Then, a large figure ran out from behind one of the rocks in the middle of the bowl area towards a few ghosts parked nearby. A Brute. They had set up a camp here.

"Look! Up ahead!" the Elite with the plasma rifles exclaimed, pointing towards the top of the two rocks.

The squad looked and saw several figures moving about on top of the rocks. They were too small to be Brutes. Then that meant they were Jackals, but they had no shields… Then that meant they were…

A purple laser flew past the Arbiter's arm and hit the Elite with the needlers. The creature's armour shield was easily penetrated. Purple blood poured from the wound and created a small pool on the ground. The Elite gasped before slumping forward onto the ground, dead.

"GET BEHIND COVER!" the Arbiter yelled.

The Elites sprinted for the nearest rocks. The Arbiter and the zealot Elite ran behind a rock next to the left rock wall. The Elite with the plasma rifles ran behind a rock a few feet from the right rock wall. He stood up and fired a few blasts from his two plasma rifles at the Jackal, who retaliated by firing two shots at the Elite. The Elite ducked, narrowly missing both as they hit the rock wall next to him.

"We must find a way out of here!" the zealot Elite growled.

"As long as that Jackal sniper is on that rock, there is no way out of here," the Arbiter told the Elite.

"Look out!" the Elite with the plasma rifles shouted over to the Arbiter and the zealot Elite.

Suddenly, a large purple object hovered towards the two. It was a ghost. The Brute driving the vehicle stopped the back and fired a barrage of blasts at his two enemies, laughing menacingly as it did. One of the blasts hit the Arbiter's shield, causing it to light up. The Arbiter growled and fired a shot from his plasma pistol at the Brute. It hit him but barely did any damage at all. The Brute fired another burst of blasts from the ghost's cannons. It looked like the Arbiter and the zealot were done for.

Then, the Brute driving the ghost screamed loudly. A loud thud followed. The Arbiter looked out from behind the rock to see the ghost on the ground and the Brute's body lying on the ground next to it. The Elite with the two plasma rifles had fired on the Brute and killed it.

"Arbiter!" the Elite shouted over to him. "Use the ghost to kill the Jackal and any other Brutes! I will cover you!"

The Arbiter nodded and ran out from behind the cover towards the ghost. At the same time, the Elite with the plasma rifles fired a barrage of blasts at the Jackal. The Arbiter quickly looked over his shoulder to see the small figure on the top of the rock hid behind the turret. The Arbiter climbed into the ghost and activated it. The craft hovered up from the ground. The Arbiter drove the ghost towards the rocks, narrowly avoiding a blind fired shot from the Jackal.

As the Arbiter drove around the rock, blast fire hit the side of his ghost from the left. He looked and saw a Brute standing next to the second large rock with a plasma rifle aimed up at him. The Arbiter turned the ghost round and fired a barrage of blasts at the Brute. They hit the creature and he roared loudly as he fell to the floor, dead.

Then, a loud screech from above got the Arbiter's attention. The Jackal. The Arbiter pushed the ghost's control to maximum. The vehicle shot forward, narrowly missing another purple laser fired from the Jackal's beam rifle. The Arbiter swerved the ghost around the second rock and stopped it. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had just escaped death, but would he be lucky next time?

Then, a large figure ran out from behind the rock the Arbiter was next to towards the other parked ghosts. Another Brute. Instead of shooting him, the Arbiter wanted the Brutes to experience how the Elites felt when they were being charged at by the Brutes in ghosts. He pushed the ghost's controls to maximum. The ghost shot forward like a bullet towards the Brute. The Arbiter's target failed to notice the incoming danger in time.

WHAM! The ghost slammed into the Brute, throwing the creature through the air. The Brute's body landed on the Jackal on the first large rock. The Jackal screeched loudly as it flew off the top of the rock onto the ground. The Brute's body landed next to him. The Elite with the plasma rifles saw his chance and fired at the Jackal. The blasts penetrated the Jackal's skin and it fell to the ground, dead.

"Come, it is clear," he said to the zealot Elite.

The two Elites ran out from behind their cover towards the large rocks. The Arbiter drove his banshee out from behind the second rock and stopped near the rock that was placed in the middle of the pathway that led out of the bowl area. There were two narrow gaps past the rock. The right had been blocked up by a barricade and the left was slightly narrower.

The Arbiter pounded a fist on the controls of his ghost.

"We cannot get this ghost through!" he growled. "The pathway is too narrow!"

"Then we must leave it, Arbiter," the zealot Elite said as he and the plasma rifle Elite reached the Arbiter.

The Arbiter heaved a frustrated sigh and climbed out of the ghost. The vehicle immediately deactivated and fell to the ground. The Arbiter and the two Elites ran through the narrow gap into another wide pathway, that was again situated between two enormous rock walls, that turned left about fifty feet ahead. Near the right rock wall of this pathway were two more parked ghosts. The Brutes had probably set up another camp further up the valley.

"Ready yourselves," the Arbiter ordered. "We do not know what could be facing us in this valley,"

Suddenly, a large object swerved out from behind the turning and charged straight towards the three. It was a large dark pink vehicle with a large main section, a small platform at the back connected to the main section with a turret coming out of the platform and two large wing-like sections. A small hatch was placed over a seat at the front of the vehicle. It was a spectre. A Brute was driving the vehicle whilst another was on the turret. The moment the spectre came out from behind the turning, the Brute on the turret fired at them. The driving Brute stopped the spectre.

The Elites dived for cover as the blasts hit the ground all around them. One almost hit the Arbiter's neck, only missing it by a mere millimetre. The Elite with the plasma rifles, who had fled over to the ghosts, fired back at the Brute on the turret, only to have to dive behind one of the parked ghosts to avoid another burst of plasma blasts.

The Arbiter, who had taken cover behind the side of the rock, suddenly remembered the turret. He could use it against the spectre. He grabbed hold of the side of the rock and pulled himself up onto the top. The shade turret was facing the bowl shaped area, as if it were keeping guard like a meerkat sentry. The Arbiter climbed onto the turret's seat. The weapon rose. It was now usable. The Arbiter turned the weapon round so it was facing the spectre. He pressed his fingers down on the turret's trigger.

A barrage of red blasts flew at the spectre. The Brute driving the vehicle did not see them coming. They hit the vehicle, causing it to shake slightly. One slammed into the hatch. A small electrical/metal snapping noise filled the air. A small hole was now in the front of the hatch, exposing the driving Brute. The Arbiter saw this and pressed down harder on the shade turret's trigger. More blasts flew out from the weapon towards the spectre. Again and again, they hit the hatch, each throwing up a small amount of purple/black blood. The Brute on the spectre's turret turned and fired at the Arbiter. The blasts hit the turret's armour and changed It's colour from green to red. Both the Arbiter and the Brute were willing to destroy the other first.

Finally, after a few seconds, one gave in.

The Brute driving the spectre was hit in the head by a blast from the Arbiter's turret. His head fell forward and hit the controls of the vehicle, emitting a loud thud. The Brute on the turret saw this. Anger rose up through him. They had just killed his comrade! Well, he was not going to stand for this! He was going to kill the Arbiter as painfully as he could.

The Brute jumped off the spectre's turret and charged towards the Arbiter with his head bent forward like a bull. The Arbiter quickly jumped off the shade turret and brought up his energy sword. The Brute was coming closer and closer with every passing second. The Arbiter was now starting to have doubts about attacking the Brute with an energy sword. Would it work? He had not attacked a beserking Brute with an energy sword since he arrived here. Even though he had two allies here to help, he hoped it was going to work.

The Brute was just feet away. He was bringing up one of his fists to strike at the Arbiter. He was going to kill him and avenge his comrade's death. The Arbiter was ready for the attack.

"AAAHHH!"

The Brute fell off the side of the rock to the ground below. A large wound mark was on his chest. The Arbiter had swung his energy sword up and cut into the Brute, killing it instantly. The Arbiter looked down the valley in case anymore came up and attacked them. Thankfully, none did.

Then, the Arbiter had an idea. The spectre was still in driving condition, or it may look that way but the controls could be damaged and prevent the spectre from driving. Apart from the damage inflicted to the hatch, it was still, mainly, in one piece. Maybe they could use this to break through the Brutes' lines, if it was still working.

The Arbiter ran over to the spectre and pulled open the remains of the hatch. He climbed into the vehicle and pressed a hand on the controls. The engines lit up. Yes! The spectre was still working. The other two Elites ran over. The Elite with the plasma rifles climbed onto the left wing of the spectre whilst the zealot Elite climbed onto the turret. The Arbiter pulled the hatch down over the driving seat and turned the spectre around. He pushed the controls down and the spectre moved forward.

As the Arbiter turned left into another part of the valley, the zealot Elite spoke.

"I pray our brothers in High Charity are faring better than we are," he said.

"As do I," the Elite sitting on the wing replied.

"They might not be, though," the Arbiter piped up. "There are more Brutes up in the holy city than there are down here on the ring. And with the amount of Jackals and Drones up in the city as well, they are easily outnumbered,"

"What about the Grunts and the Hunters?" the zealot Elite asked.

"It is obvious the Grunts, or at least most of them, are still fighting for us," the Arbiter answered. "Let us the Hunters are doing the same."

The Arbiter came to another turning up ahead that led right. As he drove right, he suddenly brought the spectre to a stop.

The group found themselves in another bowl-like area with another pathway on the right rock wall. However, this time there was only one large rock in the middle of the bowl area and there was a twenty-to-thirty long raised bit of ground to the left of the squad. Near the end of the raised bit of ground were two shade turrets. The head of a large figure was just visible near the two turrets.

"It is a Brute," the Elite on the wing of the spectre said.

"We must be quick in killing it," the zealot replied. " I will do so,"

The Arbiter drove the spectre forward towards the end of the raised bit of ground. When they reached it, the three Elites saw that the head was part of a Brute and it was standing guard over two major Grunts, who were sitting on the floor in front of the Brute.

The zealot Elite turned the spectre's turret round so it was aimed at the unsuspecting Brute's head. He pressed down on the controls. A barrage of blasts flew out of the turret and hit the Brute in the back and the head. The Brute roared in pain and did not even turn before it fell to the ground and lay still.

The two Grunts jumped up from the ground. They saw the Arbiter and the Elites in the spectre.

"Arbiter! Our saviour!" they squealed with delight.

"Get on the shade turrets," the Arbiter ordered. "Keep any Brutes pinned down,"

"Don't worry, Arbiter. We'll help," one of the Grunts shouted back.

The two Grunts ran over to the shade turrets and climbed into their seats. The turrets rose up several feet. They were now activated.

"Over there!" a voice shouted.

The Elites looked over towards the rock to see two Brutes, armed with Brute shots, run out from behind the large rock. They fired at the spectre, which the Arbiter managed to avoid by driving forward. The zealot Elite fired a barrage of blasts from the spectre's turret at the Brutes. One was hit and fell to the ground, dead. The second turned and tried to run, only to meet the same fate.

"ARBITER! LOOK OUT!" one of the Grunts screamed.

BOOM! The spectre was thrown, spinning, into the air. The Elites not sitting inside the vehicle clung onto the sides for dear life so they would not go flying off the vehicle onto the ground.

CRASH! The bottom of the spectre hit the rock wall. It landed sideways on the ground with another loud crash. Thankfully, the two Elites and the Arbiter were completely unharmed.

"What in Forerunner's name was that?" the zealot Elite shouted as he jumped down onto the ground.

They got their answer when something exploded on the rock wall above them, attracting their gaze. It was blue. The Arbiter looked ahead and saw where it came from. It was a mortar blast, and it came from a wraith.

The wraith went to fire again. Suddenly, a barrage of red blasts hit the side of the vehicle. The two Grunts had turned their turrets towards the wraith and were firing at it. The wraith turned to face them and fired a mortar blast. The deadly blast flew over the turrets and exploded on the ground just a metre behind them.

The Elites saw their chance and placed their hands on the spectre and pushed with all their might. The spectre swayed on the spot for a few seconds before the Elites managed to push the vehicle the right way up. The Arbiter climbed back into the driver's seat whilst the zealot Elite got back on the turret and the plasma rifle Elite sat back on the wing.

The Arbiter drove the spectre forward around the side of the rock, hoping to try and flank the wraith. However, when they were directly behind the rock, two purple laser slammed into the side of the spectre. The Arbiter looked out through the hatch and saw two Jackals standing on the top of the rock, both armed with beam rifles. Another Jackal was standing a few feet from the two with a shield covering It's body as if it would protect the creature. The zealot Elite turned the turret round so it was facing the Jackals and pressed down on the controls. A barrage of deadly blasts shot out towards the creatures. They easily tore through the sniper Jackals' thin armour vest, killing them instantly. The blasts had to break through the shield of the third Jackal but it was eventually deactivated and the Jackal holding quickly followed the same fate as his comrades.

The Arbiter drove the spectre forward again towards the wraith, which had just fired another shot at the two shade turrets. It missed again, but would have hit the turrets if it had not struck the bottom of the raised bit of ground. The Grunts were still blasting away at the wraith but unless the Elites did something, they would quickly be killed.

The Arbiter drove the spectre full speed towards the wraith. The zealot Elite fired at the enormous vehicle ahead of them. The wraith turned and fired a mortar blast towards them. The Arbiter swerved right, narrowly avoiding the deadly blast as it exploded on the ground where they had been just a mere second earlier. Had the Arbiter not moved the spectre, they would have most certainly gone flying through the air again, or they could have even been killed.

The Elite on the wing fired several bursts of light blue blasts at the wraith. They hit the vehicle but they did almost no damage at all against the vehicle's thick armour. The wraith fired another blast at the spectre. This time, it exploded nearer It's target and even managed to lift the vehicle several feet into the air. That was another close call.

"Arbiter," the Elite on the wing shouted as the Arbiter drove erratically to avoid getting hit by another blast. "Get as close to the wraith as you can. I will try and disable it."

It was suicidal, but if it meant destroying or at least disabling the wraith, then it was bound to work. The Arbiter drove the spectre full speed towards the wraith, narrowly missing another mortar blast that flew right over their heads and exploded on the ground behind them. When the spectre was about ten feet from the wraith, the Arbiter swerved right. The Elite on the wing jumped off and landed on the front of the wraith. He climbed up the Covenant tank and ripped off a hatch. A Brute driving the wraith yelled as it looked up and saw one of his enemies. The Elite grabbed the Brute's head and banged it against the controls. The Brute slumped back into his seat, his eyes closed and a small trickle of blood coming out of the side of his head. He had been knocked out.

The Elite grabbed the knocked out Brute and, with all It's strength, threw the creature onto the ground. He then jumped inside the wraith and pressed down on the start controls. The vehicle's engines sprung to life. The Elite moved the wraith backwards from the entrance into the next part of the valley. The Arbiter drove his spectre into the valley and stopped next to the wraith.

"Good work," he said to the Elite piloting the wraith as it stuck It's head up through where the hatch used to be. "We can use that to our advantage in pushing through the Brutes further up the valley,"

"What about the Grunts?" the Elite asked.

"They have decided to stay behind and protect the pathway," the Arbiter answered. "Now, let us continue ahead,"

The Arbiter drove the spectre down the valley towards a turning that led right. The Elite driving the wraith turned the tank around and followed. When the two Covenant vehicles reached the turning, they went left into the next part of the valley. The spectre and the wraith stopped immediately.

Ahead of them, the valley went into a slope that went down to another turning at the bottom about two hundred feet away. A small river came out of the left rock wall a few metres down from the two Covenant vehicles and went all the way to the bottom of the valley and turned at the turning. Scattered along both sides of the river were several large rocks that had flat tops, the perfect place for turrets and snipers. About half-way down the valley was a small rock archway, about fifteen feet from the ground, going from one rock on the left side of the river to another on the right side. Parked underneath the archway, next to the river, were several ghosts.

"The Brutes have set up another camp not far from the last," the Arbiter said.

"We must be getting close to something they do not want us to know," the zealot Elite replied. "Well, we are going to change that,"

The Arbiter nodded and drove the spectre down the valley towards the archway. As the vehicle approached it, a purple laser slammed into the right wing. A Jackal armed with a beam rifle was perched on one of the rocks along the river's side. The zealot Elite aimed the turret at the creature and fired. The Jackal screeched loudly as it was hit and fell off the rock onto the ground, dead. This, however, only attracted the attention of other Brute and Jackals nearby.

A loud shout from up ahead drew the Arbiter's attention. He looked and saw two Brutes run towards the ghosts from the other side of the river. They were too far away for the spectre's turret to kill them.

BOOM! One of the Brutes roared loudly as it flew through the air and landed in the river and lay still. The wraith, just several metres behind the spectre, had fired a mortar blast. Seconds later, another shot out of the alien tank and flew towards the ghosts, where the second Brute was. BOOM! The ghosts exploded in a fireball as the mortar shell hit them. The Brute was thrown several feet into the air and landed on the other side where the river. He was dead.

The Arbiter drove the spectre forward again towards the archway. However, when they were just a few metres from it, a barrage of green blasts flew at the vehicle. They were coming from all directions. The Arbiter looked out through the hatch and saw a group of Jackals lined up along the top of the archway. Their shields were placed in front of them and they were firing out from behind their cover. The Arbiter then looked sideways and saw another two Jackals on a rock on the left side of the river.

"Die, you traitors!" the zealot Elite shouted at the Jackals.

The Elite aimed the spectre's turret upwards and fired. A barrage of blasts flew out at the Jackals on the archway. The shields stood no chance against the blasts and they were quickly disabled one by one. The Jackals were hit repeatedly and fell either to the archway or into the river, dead. The zealot Elite then turned the turret left and fired at the two Jackals on the top of the rock, killing them as well.

The Arbiter scanned the scene on the other side of the archway as if he were looking into another world. It was clear. But what he now wanted to know was what were the Brutes trying to protect? This was the third camp they had come across in this one large valley and this one was only a few hundred feet away from another they had cleared just moments earlier. There was something the Brutes did not want the Elites to see. Well, the Arbiter wad going to have to find out what it was.

The Arbiter drove the spectre through the archway down the valley towards the bottom; the wraith followed. When the two vehicles reached the bottom of the valley, they turned left into a smaller section of the valley. Then, they were suddenly brought to a halt.

One hundred feet ahead of them was another bowl-like area, only it was much smaller than the two the Elites had gone through earlier on. The river flowed on in front of them and went over the edge to the ground of the bowl, which was about twenty feet down from the ground level the Elites were on, forming a small lake at the bottom of the bowl. Exactly level with the ground level the Elites were on were two large gold rectangular blocks on the back wall of the bowl. Separating them was a pathway that had several thin pillars going over the front of it. The Elites could clearly see a rock pathway behind the normal pathway.

"Do you think this is what the Brutes were trying to protect?" the zealot Elite asked the Arbiter.

"Most likely," the Arbiter answered. "But I was expecting something much bigger and more like a temple,"

"Well…" the zealot Elite began. "Maybe this structure leads to this temple or a cita-"

"Over there!" a deep voice shouted.

Suddenly, a wave of grenades were flying towards the spectre. The Arbiter drove forward, falling over the edge into the lake below. The Elite in the wraith failed to notice the grenades coming towards him.

BOOM! The wraith exploded in a fireball, throwing many large parts of it into the air. The Elite piloting the vehicle was killed instantly.

"Those traitors!" the zealot shouted. "They shall pay for that!"

The zealot aimed the spectre's turret up at the walkway, where three Brutes, all armed with Brute shots, were standing. He pressed down on the weapon's controls, causing a barrage of blasts to fly at his enemies. Two of the Brutes dived further into the walkway but the third was hit three times in the face before he could move. He fell forward off the walkway and landed with a splash in the water a few metres in front of the spectre and lay still.

The Brutes only had to raise their Brute shots and fire, as the grenades went up into the air before falling back down. Some of the grenades were long off their target whilst others came within just a few feet of the spectre. The Arbiter only moved a few times for in fear that one grenade would fall away from where it was supposed to land. It was like Hell was raining down upon them.

"We must find a way out of here!" the zealot Elite growled.

"Over there," the Arbiter exclaimed, pointing over to the left rock wall of the bowl.

The zealot Elite looked and saw it was a diamond shaped door. Maybe it had a path inside the rock wall that led to the walkway!

The Arbiter drove the spectre over to the diamond shaped door. Behind them, the grenades continued to explode in the water. The Arbiter stopped the vehicle ten feet from the door and got out, grabbing his energy sword and plasma pistol. The zealot Elite jumped off the turret onto the water covered ground. The two ran towards the door, causing it to open. The two ran into another L shaped room that had a right turning.

BOOM! The two Elites looked over their shoulders and just managed to catch a glimpse of a burning spectre as the door closed.

"We must continue on," the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter ran ahead around the turning towards another diamond shaped door on the wall ahead of him; the zealot Elite followed. The door opened as they approached it, revealing a slope pathway that led up to a doorway. The two Elites ran up the slope and through the door at the top into a large rectangular shaped room that had a glass floor, pillars lined up against both the left and right walls and another diamond shape door at the back of the room.

Three large boxes were lined up against the pillars on the right wall. On top of them were a variety of human weapons consisting of shotguns, pistols, battle rifles, sub-machine guns and even a few grenades. Against the left wall was several small racks which held a few Covenant plasma pistols, plasma rifles, carbines, beam rifles, plasma grenades and Brute shots.

The zealot Elite walked up to one of the boxes and picked up a shotgun.

"What a vulgar taste!" he growled. "Even as trophies, these weapons are worthless!"

"Human weapons are more powerful when in the right hands," the Arbiter said as he threw his plasma pistol onto the rack and took out a plasma rifle.

"Where do you think the Brutes got these weapons anyway?" the zealot Elite asked the Arbiter as he threw the shotgun back onto the box and picked up a battle rifle.

"They must have taken them from the Humans when they were at the Library," the Arbiter answered.

Suddenly, the door at the back of the room opened up. Two large figures ran into the room wielding red plasma rifles. Brutes.

In the blink of an eye, before the Brutes even had time to fire their own weapons, the Arbiter grabbed a plasma grenade, lit it and threw the deadly device at the Brutes. It landed on the chest of one of them. The Brute roared and tried to pull it off but it was no use. His comrade was no help as he decided to dive back into the room they had just come out of.

BOOM! The plasma grenade exploded, killing the Brute it landed on and throwing the body several feet into the air. The body then landed with a thud on the floor. A roar from the next room got the two Elites' attention. The zealot Elite shipped out his energy sword and charged through the open doorway into the room where the second Brute had dived into. A scream erupted from the room a second later. That was another Brute dead.

The Arbiter, with his new plasma rifle, ran through the open doorway into the next room. It was another L shaped room that had another left turning. The zealot Elite was standing over the body of the second Brute.

"He was too easy," he said as the Arbiter ran into the room.

The Arbiter nodded and ran past the zealot Elite and around the left turning towards the door on the wall ahead of him; the zealot Elite followed. The door ahead of the two opened as they approached it. The two found themselves on the walkway that ran in between the two large rectangular blocks. Completely level with the walkway, about seventy feet away, was the remains of the wraith that the Brutes destroyed just moments earlier. Seeing this brought up anger inside the two Elites. They were going to kill the Brutes here and leave none of them alive. They had shown the Elites and most Grunts no mercy, so they deserved none in return.

The Arbiter and the zealot Elite ran down the walkway. When they were about half-way down the walkway, they began to notice a change next to them. They looked and saw rock. It looked like as if it had just been dug out. Further up was a small cave that went further into the rock wall. The Brutes were probably waiting for them down there.

The Arbiter and the zealot Elite crept over to the cave as quietly as they could. When they reached it, the Arbiter poked his head out from behind the rock and peered inside. The cave was short and quite wide. On the side of the rock wall at the back was another diamond shaped door. However, just feet from it was a ghost. And it was activated.

Suddenly, the ghost zoomed up the cave towards the entrance. The Arbiter moved his head back behind the side of the cave just as the ghost came out of the cave. A Brute was driving it. Running out behind the ghost came three Brutes, all of them armed with Brute shots, and two Jackals. The ghost hovered to the side slightly to allow the Brutes to get onto the walkway.

"The Arbiter and his friend are finished!" one of the Brutes exclaimed.

"Now that he is dead, we can secure the rest of this area for when our Chieftain arrives," another said.

The Arbiter's eyes went wide. So Tartarus was coming here! Why? Had he been ordered to come down onto the ring and help kill the Elites? Or was he here for another reason?

Suddenly, one of the Jackals dropped It's weapon. With a hiss of annoyance, it knelt down to pick it up. As it did, the creature noticed something that stood out on the rock wall. It looked and saw that it was a foot. The eyes travelled up the foot onto a pair of legs covered with gold armour. Then a torso, also covered with gold armour, and then a neck and, finally, a face with a gold helmet. It was an Elite!

The Jackal let out a screech and activated It's shield. The screech drew the attention of the other Covenant around them.

"The Arbiter!" one of the Brutes shouted. "He's still alive!"

"Not for long," another Brute growled as he put a finger on his Brute shot's trigger.

Before the Arbiter or the Brutes or the Jackals could react, the zealot Elite grabbed the Arbiter's energy sword and activated it, activating his own at the same time. He swung one sword towards the Jackal that spotted them, killing it instantly, whilst he threw the other towards the Brute driving the ghost. The Brute driving the ghost was hit in the upper chest. He roared in pain and, as he tried to pull the weapon out of him, ended up pushing the vehicle's controls around. The ghost spun round erratically, hitting and killing the other Jackal before slamming into the other Brutes and pushing them against the rock wall near the other end of the walkway, knocking them out cold. The Brute driving the ghost then slumped out of the vehicle's seat onto the ground, dead.

"Nicely done," the Arbiter said.

"They can consider that a revenge strike for killing our comrades," the zealot Elite replied.

The Arbiter nodded and ran down the cave towards the door at the end; the zealot Elite followed. The two slowed to a walk as they reached the door.

"We have finally made it to the large valley," the Arbiter said. "Hopefully, we can now find a way into that structure."

"You two will pay for that!"

The two Elites shot round to see the three Brutes standing at the cave entrance. Only one of them had a Brute shot in his hands. The zealot Elite clutched his energy sword tighter, ready for the upcoming fight.

Suddenly, the Brute holding the Brute shot fired a grenade at the zealot Elite. It missed the Elite by a mere inch but instead knocked the energy sword activator out of his hands onto the ground where the grenade exploded. The activator was blown into two. Before the Brute could fire again, the Arbiter raised his plasma rifle and fired a burst of light blue blasts at the creature's hands. They instead hit the weapon and caused it to break in two. The Brute growled and threw the remains of the weapon to the ground.

"Arbiter," the zealot Elite said, looking over his shoulder. "You go on. I'll deal with these traitors!"

The Arbiter nodded.

"Good luck, brother," he said before turning towards the diamond shaped door.

"Run as much as you want, Arbiter!" he heard one of the Brutes shout. "Even if we are killed, the rest of our patrols will find you eventually!"

The door opened as the Arbiter ran towards it. The Arbiter ran through into the large valley on the other side. In the cave, the zealot Elite clenched both of his hands into fists as the Brutes, who also had their hands clenched into fists, approached him.

Outside the Arbiter ran from the doorway into the middle of the valley. He had done it. He was here. Now all he had to do was find a way down onto the ground and into the structure. However, there was a large drop, about fifty feet to his right, that was about seventy feet long. If he jumped, he could seriously injure, or even kill, himself. He was going to have to find another way down there. The Arbiter looked left up the valley. Several large rocks were dotted about in the middle of the enormous pathway About one hundred feet ahead was another turning that went left. There were probably more Brutes up there, but it was going to be worth breaking through their defences if he could find something to get down the enormous drop to the struc-Uh oh!

A large shape was hovering out from behind the left turning. It was another wraith and it was bound to be controlled by a Brute. The Arbiter raised his plasma rifle at the vehicle, ready for a fight. However, he was praying that it would not turn towards him and go back into the valley.

Suddenly, the Arbiter's worst fear came true. The wraith had turned in his direction and was hovering towards him like a hunter cornering an animal to kill. It was sure to have spotted him as it was starting slow down. It was getting ready to fire. The Arbiter stepped back a few paces and even began to panic. Still though, he kept his plasma rifle raised. At least he was not going down without a fight.

Then, the wraith just stopped all of a sudden not more than a few metres in front of the Arbiter. The Arbiter was confused. What the hell was going on? Was the wraith damaged or was the pilot going to come out and kill him. A part of the him thought that the pilot of the wraith was Tartarus. Maybe Tartarus wanted to fight the Arbiter in a hand-to-hand combat. That was going to be bad. However, the army was still ready to fight.

Suddenly, the wraith fired.

BOOM! The mortar shell exploded, but it was not directed at or anywhere near the Arbiter. It was directed at the diamond shaped door. Three loud roars filled the air. The Arbiter shot round to see the Brutes he had seen just minutes earlier lying dead on the ground. What the hell?

The Arbiter turned back towards the wraith. It was now facing him again. Suddenly, the craft turned off and hit the ground. The hatch on the top of the vehicle swung open. A tall and bulky figure rose up from inside the wraith. It was an Elite with silver armour and had only It's right mandibles as the left were missing. It was Vadumee.

"By the rings, Arbiter!" he exclaimed as if he were in a dream. "The councillors! Are they-"

"Murdered… By the Brutes!" the Arbiter said, cutting Vadumee off mid-sentence. "As are many of our warriors along with many Grunts,"

Vadumee growled and pounded a fist on the wraith.

"Vile, disloyal beasts!" he said. "The prophets were fools to trust them!"

Suddenly, a loud whirring noise filled the air. It was coming from above. The two Elites looked up to see two phantoms fly overhead towards the structure. When they were about sixty feet from the front of the structure, one of the phantoms turned off and flew behind it. The other turned so the side of it, whilst the craft was hovering over the walkway that stuck out of the front of the structure, was facing the structure. The circular hole on the bottom of the craft opened up. A large figure hovered down from the craft onto the platform. It was Tartarus. On the strap on his back was his Fist of Rukt. His right arm was holding Mary's hands that were tied together with the metal strap, behind her back whilst his left, which had the Index in it, was placed against the back of Wally's neck and was pushing him along.

As the three headed towards the door at the end of the walkway, it opened up. Three Brutes were standing inside. Tartarus let out a few growls, which was him probably greeting the Brutes, and walked inside the structure. The door behind him closed. It felt like as if Tartarus was going to keep the two prisoners here forever and never let them see the outside world again, but why had they come here?

Maybe this large structure was more important than the Arbiter thought.


	18. The fall of High Charity

**Minutes earlier**

**Location: High Charity**

The Covenant holy city of _High Charity_ was in It's worst crisis yet, and it would probably be the city's last. The Elites, the once former guards of the Prophets, were fighting the Brutes, the current guards of the Prophets. They were fighting all over the city, in space around the city and even on Delta Halo's inner surface.

So far, both sides had managed to recruit allies. Most Grunts and Hunters had decided to join the Elites whilst the Brutes were able to recruit the remaining Grunts and Hunters as well as the Jackals and Drones. So far, both sides had suffered terrible loses. However, a majority of them were caused by the arrival of two new enemies to the Covenant holy city.

The first was Eve, or as the Covenant refer her to, the demon. She had arrived in the council hall whilst Truth was making a speech of the successful retrieval of the Index by Tartarus and the Brutes, but Eve, Truth and Tartarus knew that it was the Arbiter who had cleared the path and managed to stop those who had got to the icon first from leaving, and had fought her way through the city after Truth and Mercy. Even though their worst enemy was in the city, the Brutes and Elites were still too busy killing each other to stop her.

Then, out of the blue, the second enemy to arrive, and probably the only enemy worse than the demon, was the Flood. After the battle at _Delta Halo's_ library, the Flood had managed to board and infect the remnants of the crew of the human ship _Amber Clad_. Then, using slip space rupture, they had managed to fly the ship from the library to _High Charity_, where they crashed it into a tower and were now spreading across the city at a terrifying speed, killing and infecting everyone and everything in their path.

Near the crash site of the _Amber Clad_, a large circular hole at the end of a platform, about fifty feet above another that was circular shaped and had a small pathway leading onto a large walkway, opened up. A Human female in a white bodysuit hovered down onto the platform below. It was Eve.

As she landed on the platform, three platforms parked sideways along the platform turned and flew away towards the large pyramid/triangle structure in the centre of the city.

Eve growled and swore loudly. She knew that Wally, John and Mary were here just seconds ago. Had she been here just a little bit earlier, she could have saved them. Damn! It was all wasted now. All that fighting and chasing after Truth over her had all been for nothing.

Then, she saw something on the floor a few feet from her. She looked and saw it was a prophet. He was quite old and frail with grey skin. It was Mercy. A bit of blood fell onto the floor next to him. Eve looked onto the side of his neck and, she felt sick at what it was doing, saw that an infection form had attached itself to Mercy's neck and was eating away at it, throwing bit of flesh and blood across the platform floor. Mercy had grabbed hold of It's sides and was trying to pull it off, but it was no use.

Even though he was one of the Covenant holy leaders, Eve knew she could not let Mercy die like this. He was still alive, which she could tell by his quiet but loud enough gasps for breath and grunts. She could only imagine the pain he was going through.

Eve walked over to Mercy and knelt down beside him. He was smaller than other prophets, the only she had been closest to was Regret. He looked only to be about five feet four inches. That was small compared to Eve and most humans. His skin looked really thin, frail even, and weak. It looked like only a pinch or a poke would break through it as if it were water.

Mercy moved to his left slightly. His eyes focused on Eve.

"Demon," he managed to gasp.

Eve leaned closer to him so his face was just a few inches from hers.

"Tell me where Truth is going and I will get the infection form off your neck," she said.

Mercy grunted as he tried, yet again, to pull the infection form off his neck.

"Earth," he grunted. "To finish what we started. But this time, he says none of you will be left behind,"

Eve went wide eyed. So Truth was going to Earth. Then, she remembered what she and Auto had found earlier. The information in the command centre. Truth's fleet, or most of it, was already attacking Earth! He was going to lead the rest of it there as Mercy had just told her.

Mercy had done his part of the deal, now Eve had to do hers. She grabbed hold of the infection form and pulled it off his neck. She squeezed the top of the creature, making it hiss and growl before it suddenly popped. Eve looked down at Mercy. His life was slowly slipping away. He looked up at Eve once more.

"Demon…" he managed to say. "Your… not like… we said you… were after all,"

He smiled and took his last breath. Then, his eyes closed. He died.

Eve sighed and stood up. Mercy's death gave her a sense of déjà vu. Just over a week earlier, she had witnessed captain McCrea's death on the Covenant battle cruiser Truth and Reconciliation on the last Halo. Even though he was her enemy, she felt sad and sorry for Mercy having to go through a horrible death, which only just topped the lies, orders and secrets he had to give to and keep from the Covenant. Well, at least he was at peace now. He would not have to worry about those things anymore.

A small whir from behind attracted her attention. Eve turned to see a small circular shaped hole open up next to the side of the pathway. A cylindrical shaped object with a flat top rose up out of the hole and stopped. It was about three feet high. It was a pedestal.

Eve walked over to the pedestal. As she approached it, Auto's avatar appeared out of the top of the object.

"You will not believe what information on the city I've found just now," he said. "That structure, in the centre of the city, It's a Forerunner ship!"

Eve turned and looked out at the enormous structure in the centre of the thousands of buildings. It was miles away.

"Truth is heading straight for it!" Auto continued. "If he leads the Covenant fleet, or whatever's left of it, to Earth, the UNSC there won't stand a chance,"

"That Brute has the Index as well as John, Mary and Wally." Eve told Auto. "He can activate the ring,"

"Don't worry, I have a solution already worked out," Auto said to Eve. "If the Brute does activate the ring, I'll detonate Amber Clad's fusion reactors. The blast will destroy both the city and the ring. It's not a very original plan, but we know it will work since we have done this before,"

Eve nodded and went to grab Auto's data cord, which stuck out of a small slot in the side of the pedestal.

"No, don't Eve," Auto said, stopping her hand just a few millimetres from the data cord. "I can't go with you,"

Eve's eyes went wide. Auto was not coming with her! Why?

"Why?" she asked as she straightened up.

"I don't want to chance a remote detonation," he answered. "It might not work if I'm inside your suit. I need to stay here,"

Eve shook her head slightly. She tried to say something but the words got lost in her mouth.

"No!" she said after a few seconds. "I'm not leaving you behind!"

"You have to," Auto replied. "If I try and activate the fusion reactors from inside your suit and it does not work, then our only hope of stopping the ring from firing is gone! No, Eve! I'm staying here and you can't stop me,"

Eve sighed. Auto was right, though she tried, and failed, not to show that he was. If he tried to remotely activate the ship's fusion reactors and they failed, then once the ring was activated nothing would be stopping it. Still though, she did not want to leave Auto here. He would die along with the ring and the city. She just, at least, wanted to be here with Auto and die with him if the city is destroyed. He was one of the closest friends she had.

After a moment, Eve moved her hand back from Auto's data cord.

"I will get you back!" she said. "I will come back for you! I swear to you!"

Auto was about to reply when a loud whooshing-like sound filled the air. It was coming from the back of the enormous walkway. She and Auto looked towards the back of the walkway and saw a large shaped flying towards it. As it came closer, the two saw it was a pelican.

CRASH! BOOM! The front of the pelican crashed onto the pathway and spun round so the back was facing the tower. A cloud of smoke rose up from fires that erupted along the wings, front and back of the pelican.

"Oh no!" Eve said in a worried tone.

She went to run towards the pelican. She had to see if they were okay but before she had so much even move a step away from her where she was standing, Auto stopped her.

"No Eve, don't!" he said. "The pelicans are not controlled by marines. They're controlled by the…"

_ROOOOAAAARRRRR!_

"Flood," Eve said, finishing Auto's sentence.

A large group of tall figures ran out from the back and front of the pelican towards the tower. Combat forms. Just a second later, as if on cue, the tower door opened up and a group of Covenant, two Brutes, three Jackals and four Grunts, came charging out and fired on the combat forms, who retaliated by firing back.

Eve ran up the pathway to the long walkway up ahead. As she approached it, a combat form running towards the tower saw her. It immediately turned and charged towards her. In It's hand was a Covenant carbine but the combat form must have forgotten it had the weapon and it was showing no sign of stopping. Eve activated her energy sword. The deadly weapon shot out of the activator. When the combat form was just feet away, Eve swung the energy sword at the creature. It cut through the combat form as if it were paper. The remains fell to the floor.

VROM! A large shape flew overhead. Eve looked up another pelican. She watched the craft as it dipped down towards the city then banked left and disappeared behind the tower.

"Was that another Flood controlled pelican?" Eve asked.

"Yes," Auto answered. "There's Flood controlled drop ships touching down all over the city! And… that creature beneath the library, Eve! That Gravemind, as It's called! It used us. We were just a diversion. The Amber Clad was always It's intended vector.

"Well, I take it this is the end for the Covenant's reign of _High Charity_," Eve said.

"You bet," Auto replied. "Anyway, to keep going after Truth, there's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship. Head inside. I'll lead you to it,"

Eve nodded and ran up the pathway towards the walkway. As she reached it, one of the Grunts fell to the floor in front of her and scrambled towards the door of the tower. A small combat form ran towards the Grunt. It grabbed the Grunt's neck with It's tentacle hand and squeezed hard. The Grunt gasped for breath but the combat form only squeezed harder. Then, after a few seconds, the Grunt stopped breathing and went still.

That was horrible! She had just seen a combat form strangle a Covenant soldier to death. It looked like the Flood were intent on taking the city. She would have to worry about that later. Right now, Truth had to be stopped.

Eve ran onto the walkway towards the door on the tower, having to use her energy sword against one of the Jackals and another two combat forms that tried to attack her. The door opened as she approached it, revealing a large barricade a few feet in front of her. Eve ran around the barricade into a large room that had several pillars with holographic symbols along the walls, a slope in the middle of the room that went up a few feet before going onto flat floor again and another barricade in front of another door.

Eve ran up the room towards the other end. As she approached it, a loud beep on the other side made her stop. A second later, three creatures, armed with plasma rifles, ran out from behind the barricade. Combat forms. They spotted Eve and fired on her. Eve dived behind a nearby pillar and crouched down. Some of the blasts had hit her bodysuit, causing It's shield to light up and her holographic meter to appear above her wrist. The level was in the yellow zone. She was going to have to be careful fighting the Flood. Shooting from them was bad enough, but if one was to hit her, she would be killed almost instantly.

Suddenly, one of the combat forms charged towards Eve. She saw the threat coming and swung her energy sword at the creature, cutting it in two. She then grabbed the fallen plasma rifle and fired on the two remaining combat forms, killing them as well.

Eve ran past the remains of the combat forms towards the barricade. She ran around the barricade towards the door, causing it to open as she approached it. Eve ran down a short corridor that turned left about thirty feet ahead. Eve ran down the corridor and turned into the next corridor. About twenty feet ahead was a small door. Eve ran down the corridor towards the door. It's motion detectors picked up her movement and it opened.

Eve found herself in a large square shaped room with a walkway, about ten feet above the floor, going along the side of the wall. In the middle of the room was a large cube shaped building with a long tube sticking out of the top of it going into the ceiling and an entrance on the side of the building. Another door was on the back wall on the other side of the room.

"Is that the way to the conduit?" Eve asked.

"No," Auto answered. "That's the way up to one of the upper levels of the tower. But at least it will take you closer to the conduit."

Eve nodded and ran towards the cube shaped building.

Suddenly, as she reached the entrance of the cube shaped building, three large figures hovered down from the tube into the building. The room was dimly lit but it was enough to tell who the figures were. Brutes.

"Demon!" one of them shouted.

Eve dived away from the doorway as a barrage of blasts flew at her. Just a second later, the three Brutes charged out of the cube shaped building and aimed their plasma rifles down at her.

"Your time has come, demon!" one of them growled.

"You won't make it out here even if you kill me!" Eve hissed. "The Flood are here! You'll die along with anyone one else that's here!"

"That is not important to us," another of the Brutes said. "We will give our lives for our prophet to continue the Great Journey! You, however, will not be seeing the Journey, demon!"

The Brutes placed their fingers on the triggers of their plasma rifles. Eve went wide-eyed. Even with her energy sword, she could not strike all three of these Brutes at the same time. It looked like she was goner.

BOOM! The back wall of the room suddenly exploded, throwing dust and debris everywhere. Then, out of the ruins came a large group of seven tall combat forms. They were all unarmed but that was not going to stop them from killing the Brutes. The Brutes immediately forgot about Eve and fired on the combat forms.

"Wow," Eve muttered under her breath. "I never thought I would be happy to see the Flood,"

"You can thank them later," Auto replied, making Eve smirk silently. "Right now, let's just get up to the conduit,"

Eve nodded and got up from the floor. She ran through the fighting, narrowly missing a strike from one of the combat forms' tentacle hand. She ran into the cube shaped building and stood in the middle of it. She looked up and saw a large circular hole in the ceiling above her. It led into a long dark tunnel.

Then, as if some invisible hands had grabbed her, Eve began to lift up from the floor towards the hole.

_HIIIISSSSSSS!_

Eve looked towards the building's entrance and saw one of the combat forms standing there. It growled and charged towards her. Eve began to panic.

_C'mon!_ she thought angrily out of fear. _Hurry!_

The combat form was just feet away. It brought back It's arm, ready to strike at It's victim.

Then, Eve shot up into the tunnel. She looked down and saw the combat form standing in the middle of the building. It looked up at her. Within a few seconds, the combat form had disappeared from sight. Eve looked up and only just saw another door about twenty feet above her through the darkness.

"I will disable this lift once you reach the top," Auto said, reassuring Eve that the Flood or the Brutes were not going to chase her up here. "That sill slow them down. I hope,"

A second later, Eve hovered out of the hole and landed on a metal floor. She found herself in a long dark purple corridor with a door at the end about sixty feet away. About half-way down the corridor were two smaller corridors. One led off to the left, the other to the right. The lift door on the floor behind Eve closed.

"It's locked," Auto said. "For the moment. You better hurry before the Flood or the Covenant find a way through it."

Eve nodded and ran down the corridor towards the end. As she approached the two corridors, both of which were only a few feet long, halfway down the large corridor, she saw two locked doors at the end of both of them. On the floor in front of them were Covenant bodies. In front of the left doorway was the body of a minor Elite. Next to it was a carbine. In front of the right doorway was the body of a Jackal. Next to it was a plasma pistol. They must have killed each other at the same time. Probably patrolling and came out of the two corridors, seen each other and fired. It was hard to imagine that even with the Flood in their city, the Brutes and Elites were still trying to kill each other.

Eve ran on down the corridor towards the end. As she approached the door, a familiar voice came over the city's intercom.

_"Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city?" _came Truth's voice. _"Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives!"_

The door at the end for the corridor opened as eve approached. She ran onto a small platform with a curved end. The platform was sticking out of a wall in an enormous chamber. Far below and above the platform was a green mist cloud. It was almost completely dark in here as if she had arrived in some gateway to darkness, or even Hell itself.

Suddenly, a large group of figures flew over Eve towards the left side of the chamber. Drones. There was another platform sticking out of the side of some kind of small tower connected to the side of the chamber. A few blasts flew through the air fro the platform. Some kind of battle must be taking place over there.

_"No enemy has ever withstood out might,"_ Truth continued. _"The Flood too shall fail."_

"I need to get over there," Eve said to herself. "But how?"

She scanned the platform for any way to get over to the next platform. She found it. Like the platforms she had gone on earlier, there was a large circle engraved into the top of the platform near the end. Eve walked onto the circle. At once, she lifted several inches into the air and some kind of holographic path formed underneath her feet. It lead all the way to the other platform. Eve hovered across the holographic pathway towards the next platform. As she reached it, she saw that the battle was taking place between five Drones, a Brute and two Jackals against a group of small combat forms.

As Eve landed on the platform, one of the Drones saw her and dived towards her. However, she saw the threat coming and fired a few blasts from her plasma rifle at the creature, hitting it in the head. The Drone fell to the platform floor next to Eve before falling over the edge and disappearing into the mist far below.

Eve scanned the rest of the chamber. Far away ahead of her was another platform. It was exactly level with the first platform she had entered in the chamber but it was opposite it. Great! She had found a way out of the chamber. Now all she had to do was find a way over there.

"Demon!" a deep voice growled.

The next thing Eve knew, she was lying on the platform floor. A flaring pain was running up her side. She looked up and saw the Brute standing over her. It growled and raised It's foot. It was going to crush her face! She had to do something.

Before the Brute could so much move his foot an inch, Eve activated her energy sword and swung into the Brute's leg. The Brute roared in pain and began hopping on the spot as he grabbed his injured leg. Blood began to pour from the wound. The brute hopped backwards. However, It's roars attracted the attention of two combat forms, who had just killed one of the Jackals. They charged towards the Elite and both struck the creature twice with their tentacle hands. The brute roared louder before a final hit to the face threw him to the floor. He did not rise again.

Eve got up from the platform floor. She had to get over to the next platform before Truth left the city. She stepped onto another circle, which, like on the last platform, had been engraved into the platform. However it did not light up. Eve began to panic. What was going on? Was it broken? Or had the Flood managed to disable it?

"Don't worry," Auto said, as if sensing Eve's panic and concern. "There's another circle on the other side of the platform."

Eve looked down at the other side of the platform and saw another circle engraved into it.

"Thanks, Auto," she said.

Eve stepped off the first circle onto the second one. At once, she hovered several inches into the air. The holographic path formed under her feet and lead over to the next platform. She hovered over towards it. As Eve approached the next platform, she looked back at the battle raging on where she had just been. The Drones fired on one of the combat forms. The creature fell to the platform floor and lay still.

Suddenly, the Drones flew away from the battle, leaving the last Jackal to be dragged to the platform floor ad killed by the combat forms, and headed straight for Eve. She saw this and, when she landed on the platform, ran towards the door on the tower at the back of the platform. She looked over her shoulder and saw the Drones just a few metres away. One of them at the front of the group raised their plasma pistols. Eve ran as fast as her legs would go. The door was just ten feet away! Six! Five! Four, almost there!

Suddenly, the door beeped loudly and opened, revealing another corridor behind it.. Eve closed her eyes and dived forward into the corridor. Behind her, the door slammed shut. A loud thud on the other side came a second later.

"You can thank me later," Auto said.

Eve smiled and got up from the floor. She ran down the corridor towards the end. When she reached it, she saw another circle engraved into the floor. Above the circle was a small tunnel built into the ceiling.

Eve stepped onto the circle. At once, she was lifted from the floor into the tunnel, where she was almost surrounded by pitch black darkness, the only source of light being very dim and it seemed to come from the walls of the tunnel. Eve looked up and, only just though, saw a hole about forty feet above her.

"I'll do what I can to slow the launch sequence," Auto said. "But it won't last forever. You need to hurry,"

"I will," Eve replied.

A second later, Eve hovered out of the hole and landed on the floor of another corridor. It ended at a door about twenty feet ahead of her. Eve ran down the corridor towards the door, causing it to open.

She was revealed with an enormous curved room that a ten foot high raised bit of floor along the left side of the room for about ten metres, which was a window overlooking the enormous chamber. The top of the raised bit of floor was a pathway. Going through the raised bit of floor was a small corridor that led to the other side of the room. Along the right side of the room was another pathway that joined up with the one that went through the raised bit of floor. Between the right pathway and the raised bit of floor were several small plants. This must be some kind of garden. Though the plants were going to have a hard time growing because the room was dimly lit like the enormous chamber.

Eve walked into the room, her plasma rifle raised and energy sword ready in case they were any Covenant. As she did, a familiar voice came in the city's intercom yet again.

_"The parasite did not defeat the Forerunners,"_ came Truth's voice. _"It shall not defeat us."_

"Yes, our holy prophet is still alive!" a deep voice from the other end of the room exclaimed. "The Great Journey is still alive!"

Eve ran over to the wall next to the corridor entrance in the raised section of floor and peeked her head out from behind it. Near the other end of the room, on the right pathway, was a Brute. In his hand was a Brute plasma rifle. Standing a few feet in front of him were two Jackals with their shields activated. They nodded in agreement and said something in their alien language.

"We must keep the parasite away from our holy prophet for as long as we can," the Brute said. "You two Grunts up there…" the Brute shouted, looking up at the top of the raised section of floor. "Stop fooling around and set up that turret! Hurry! If the parasite come in here, we will be overwhelmed!"

Eve heard two high pitched voices reply but she could not make out what they were saying. That did not matter. She had to get through the Covenant in this room and get to the top of the tower to the conduit.

Eve crouched down and moved as quietly as she could towards the side of the raised bit of ground. If she went through the corridor or tried to sneak to the doorway through the middle of the room, she was bound to be spotted. If she went across the top of the raised section of floor, if she managed to get up there without being spotted, then she may have a chance of getting up to the top of the tower without being spotted. It was risky, but right now it was worth the try.

Eve stopped a few feet from the front of the raised section of floor. She bent low and breathed in. She hoped this was going to be quick. If she was too slow or if this failed, the Jackals and the Brute would spot her and she would be dead.

She tensed herself and jumped.

Eve's left foot hit the side of the raised section of the floor first. Her right foot followed a millisecond later. At the same time her right foot hit the raised section of the floor, Eve's moved her left foot up to pull her body towards the top. Her hands grabbed hold of the side of the pathway along the top of the raised section of floor and pulled herself up.

Eve breathed a quiet sigh of relief and looked over her shoulder. Amazingly, the Brute and the Jackals had not heard, or even noticed her jump. So far so good. Now came the hard part. She had to sneak to the other end of the pathway, without alerting the Grunts, and then jump down and get through the doorway.

Eve went to move when…

"YOU FOOL!"

Eve went wide eyed and had to bite her tongue to stop herself from gasping. She went as still as a statue and slowly moved her eyes to her right. She saw the large figure of the Brute move towards the raised section of the pathway a few feet down from her. The Brute had seen her. Now she was going to have to fight her way out of the room. Eve gripped her energy sword tighter and placed a finger on the trigger of the plasma rifle. She was ready to fight her way out of this part of the tower.

"You cannot even put together a simple turret!" the Brute shouted as he climbed onto the raised section of the pathway.

Eve breathed another quiet sigh of relief. She watched the Brute walk over to the Grunts who were trying to put together a shade turret. So far, they had only put together the seat and the floor piece but were having trouble in putting the armour together for the blast chargers to go.

"This is how you put it together!" the Brute growled as he pushed one of the Grunts aside and picked up a piece of the green armour and one of the chargers.

Eve crept forward towards the window and went prone. She slowly moved across the pathway towards the other end of the raised section of the floor. It was pretty much going to be safe for now because she was too far behind the edge of the raised section of the floor for the Jackals to see her and the Brute was still too busy ranting on to the Grunts about the turret. If she could get past them and then jump down to the floor, she might be able to get out of the room without alerting the Covenant.

_ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!_

At this sound, everyone froze. One of the Grunts whimpered slightly. The two Jackals said something and placed their shields over their heads as if they would protect them.

Without thinking, Eve, who was just a few feet from the end of the pathway, shot up from the floor. Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of the Brute and the two Grunts. The Brute growled and shot up from the floor and grabbed his plasma rifle.

"You will not leave here alive, demon!" he growled.

THUD! The Grunts screamed and ran, only to fall down the side of the raised section of the floor to the dirt where the plants were growing. The Brute shit round and gasped. It was a combat form. The deadly creature growled and swung both It's tentacle hands at the Brute, hitting him in the face and chest. The Brute roared before it fell forward onto It's knees and then onto the pathway floor, dead.

THUD! THUD! THUD! Another three Flood dropped down from the ceiling. Two of them were combat forms, one small. The third was a large Flood form with a huge swollen upper body and small thin legs that looked as though they were straining in carrying the weight on top of them. It was a carrier form. Inside it was bound to be a swarm of Flood infection forms. The immediately began attacking the two Jackals and two Grunts on the floor below.

The combat form on the pathway then focused It's attention on another shape a few feet away. It was Eve. The creature growled and charged towards her. However, she had an advantage.

When the combat form was just about to strike, Eve brought up her energy sword and cut right through the torso of the combat form, cutting the creature in two. The remains fell to the floor. Below, the screams of the Grunts dying filled her ears. It was horrible! Then…

**"Arrogant creatures! Your deaths will be instantaneous, while we suffer the progress of infinitude!"**

Eve recognized that voice. It was that creature she and the Arbiter had been captured, or more or less saved, by when they were in the library. But what was he doing here? The Flood were here and were planning on taking over High Charity. Unless… he was their leader! Auto was right. He had used them to get to High Charity. And now, once the city fell, he was going to spread his Flood army across other worlds. This was bad. She had fallen right into his trap. Well, she was not going to be infected by the Flood.

Eve ran to the end of the raised section of the floor and jumped down onto the pathway that led to the door. She ran towards the door ahead of her, causing it to open. Eve ran into a short straight corridor that led to another door about twenty feet away. The door behind her closed, probably because of Auto. Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. The door there beeped loudly and opened up.

Eve was revealed with another dimly lit curved shaped room. It was much like the last, only this time, the raised section of floor was against the right side of the room and the normal pathway was on the left side of the room. Like the last room, there were a few plants growing between the pathway and the raised section of floor. The raised section of floor was up against a window, but it was overlooking the enormous building, that contained the Mausoleum of the Arbiter, that Eve went through earlier. What was also different about this room, apart from the different places of the floors and what the room as overlooking, was that there were several large pieces of, what looked to be, the ceiling. Either the Flood had done this or the Covenant had taken them down to try and block the Flood's advance should they ever come into this room.

Two large figures at the other end of the room, near the door, became visible to Eve. She ducked down behind a large barricade piece and looked down the room. The two Brutes were saying something but they seemed to be talking quietly as if they were trying to not to draw the Flood to their location. A group of three smaller figures lumbered out from behind the raised bit of floor. Grunts. A few taller fires followed. At first glance they looked like Jackals, but a second look made Eve realise they were Drones.

Eve quietly crept out from behind the barricade piece and moved towards the side of the raised section of floor. She crouched down and slowly began to move towards the other end of the room. As she neared the Covenant soldiers, she began to understand what they were saying.

"The parasite are spreading throughout the tower," Eve heard one of the Brutes say as she was about half-way down the raised section of floor.

"We must do something!" the other Brute said. "We must contact the conduit and tell them to shut it down!"

"They won't be doing anything like anytime soon," Auto said to Eve. "The security systems in this part of the tower are particularly robust,"

_ROOOOAAAAARRRRRR!_

The two Grunts screamed and aimed their weapons about wildly to fire on the threat when it arrived. The Brutes and the Drones, who flew into the air, did the same. A second later, several large figures jumped down from the ceiling onto the floor around the Covenant soldiers. At once, all hell broke loose as the Covenant fired on the unarmed wave of combat and infection forms. The Drones screeched loudly and hovered from one side of the room to the other to avoid the jump attack by the combat forms.

_"Whosoever is gripped by fear, take heed,"_ came Truth's voice again. _"I am the Prophet of Truth… And I am not afraid. Noble Mercy is here at my side. His wise counsel ever in my ears,"_

_Bullshit!_ Eve thought.

She knew that Truth was lying. She had seen Mercy earlier on the platform. Truth was still believing in this 'Great Journey', and the rest of the Covenant were too stupid and absent minded to see what he was really doing to make sure all of this was going to happen.

"We exist together now," came the Gravemind's voice, making Eve shiver as if it were the Devil himself speaking. "Two corpses in one grave,"

Eve got up and ran towards the door at the end of the room ahead of her. However, she attracted the attention of one of the Drones. The creature screeched and dived towards her. Eve, however, heard the screech and looked over her shoulder to see the creature dive towards her. She shot round and fired a few blasts from her plasma rifle at the Drone. They hit the creature and it screeched loudly as it fell to the floor, dead.

As Eve reached the pathway that led to the door, one of the Brutes, that had just killed a combat form spotted her.

"Your time has come, demon!" he shouted.

Eve shot round and saw the Brute raise his Brute shot at her. Eve immediately charged towards the Brute and swung her sword at him before he had so much set his finger on the weapon's trigger. The sword struck the Brute in the side, causing blood to flow from the wound onto the floor. The Brute roared and threw the Brute shot on the floor and grabbed It's side as he staggered backwards. Then, a swarm of infection forms jumped onto the Brute. The creature roared and struggled against the creatures, but it was no use. Blood flowed from the wounds as the infection forms ate away as the Brute's flesh. Then, after a few seconds, the Brute fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

Eve put the horrible images of what she had seen out of her mind and turned so she was facing the door. She ran towards it, causing the door to open. She ran into a small corridor that turned left after a few metres. As Eve reached the turning, the door behind her closed, probably thanks to Auto again. Eve ran down the corridor towards the end, which was a wall. As she reached it, she saw another circle engraved into the floor. She looked up at the ceiling and saw another circular door built into it. That must lead up to the top of the tower.

Eve stepped onto the circle. At once, the circular door on the ceiling opened up as she hovered up from the floor. Eve looked up and saw a long dark tunnel above her. Eve then shot up into the tunnel like a bullet.

"Does this tunnel lead to the top of the tower?" Eve asked Auto.

"No," Auto answered. "It leads to some kind of inner sanctum."

Just a second later, Eve hovered out of the hole onto a metal floor. She was in a large square shaped room that had several pillars, in a square shape, around the middle of the room and a small slope path leading up to a large diamond shape door. Along the walls were several pathways that led through diamond shaped holes into the walls. The room was dimly lit. Scattered around the room were more large pieces of metal that looked like they were both barricades and from the ceiling. At the other end of the room, Eve saw a group of Brutes and Jackals near the other end of the room. There were also a few Grunts there.

Eve crouched down and waited for a few seconds. She was expecting to happen was that the Flood would come charging into the room and kill the Covenant so she could get past them and get into the next room. A few seconds went by. Still, there were no Flood. Where were they? For once, Eve wanted the Flood to show up. Looks like she was going to have to deal with the Covenant herself.

She moved forward around a large triangular piece of metal and hid behind one of the pillars. One of the Grunts was lumbering towards her. In It's hand was a plasma pistol. Eve pressed her back against the pillar and waited for the Grunt to come nearer, which she could tell by the loudness of the footfalls of the creature. Slowly, they got louder. Then, the Grunt walked past the pillar without even noticing Eve. Big mistake.

Before the Grunt could even blink, Eve grabbed the creature and pulled it behind the pillar, keeping an arm over It's mouth to stop it screaming for help. Eve raised her plasma rifle and brought it down on the Grunt's head, killing it instantly. That was one down. A lot more to go. Eve peeked her head out from behind the left side of the pillar. She could see the Covenant moving about. One of the Jackals was walking towards a large piece of metal a few feet from where Eve was hiding. It was the perfect target. Eve aimed her plasma rifle at the creature. Her finger was on the trigger and was ready to press down.

_ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!_

Eve gasped and inadvertently fired a shot. The blast flew through the air and hit the Jackal in the head. The creature screeched loudly and fell to the floor, dead. The Brutes shouted something and fired a few Brute shot grenades at Eve. She hid behind the pillar, narrowly missing one of the shots as it soared passed the pillar and exploded on the floor a few metres from her.

THUD! Eve went wide-eyed and kept herself from breathing and even moving. A combat form had landed a few feet to her right. It stood there for a few seconds before charging towards the Covenant soldiers. Another of the Grunts screamed and fired at the combat form. One of the Brutes fired a shot at the Flood form, blowing it apart completely.

"Is that last of monsters?" one of the Grunts squeaked.

_ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!_

That was his question answered.

The next thing Eve knew, a huge swarm of combat forms were charging towards the room. There was no way she was going to stay here and watch this battle unfold. To hell with trying to take out the Covenant one at a time!

Eve sprinted out from behind the pillar so quickly that the Covenant did not even see her coming until she ran past them. One of the Brutes went to fire at her but a combat form jumped towards the creature and knocked the weapon out of his hands into his face.

Eve approached the diamond shaped door. It opened as she approached it. Eve ran through the open doorway into a large dome shaped room with some kind of flat cylindrical platform in the middle of the room. The body of an Elite was lying in the corner. Nearby were two dead Brutes. They had probably been fighting and killed each other.

"Apparently, these are the prophets' private quarters," Auto said.

Eve, however, did not reply. She had a hand clasped over her mouth and was even gagging slightly.

On the wall head of her was some kind of thick, swollen yellowish/brownish growth on the wall. It was huge as well. It went up the side of the wall towards the ceiling. Eve looked away. It was a good that she had done so to because had she not, she could have ended up being sick.

"What the Hell is that?" Eve asked.

"That's Flood biomass growth," Auto answered. "They grow that when they infect a world to turn it into one of their hives,"

"It's sick," Eve said. "Seriously, I do not know how the Flood can grow something like that,"

"They're sick themselves," Auto replied.

Eve nodded in agreement and moved her hand from her mouth.

"Where do we go now?" she asked Auto.

"Through that door on your right," Auto answered. "It will take you straight up to the conduit,"

At these words, Eve felt a spur of excitement go through her. She was almost at Truth. If she hurried now, she could get him before he escaped!

Eve ran towards the door on the right side of the room. It beeped loudly and opened, revealing a short corridor on the other side. Even from the doorway, Eve could see a circle engraved into the floor. Eve ran down the corridor onto the circle. At once, she was lifted off the floor and hovered into the tunnel.

"This crisis will not be the end of us," came Truth's voice. "It is but one last hurdle before the Great Journey and salvation,"

"Brute and Elite ships are still engaging one another all-around High Charity," Auto said. "Oh no! The ship's about to launch within the next few minutes! I'm running out of options, Eve! I can't hold the launch sequence much longer! You have to hurry!"

A few seconds later, Eve hovered out of the hole onto the floor. She was back outside, which she could tell by the sight of the city and the enormous Forerunner ship miles away ahead of her.

The roof of the tower had a long silver pathway leading up some kind of small slope that was about fifteen feet high and went to the edge of the tower's top. Along both sides, coming out from the top the slope led to, were two pathways that had a door built into the walls of two tall structures, built onto the top of the tower, next to the pathway. Below the pathways was another door built into the wall exactly level with one above. Higher up from the pathways, about thirty feet, were two smaller cylindrical objects sticking out from some kind of upper section of the two buildings. A green light was shooting out in a straight line a few metres over Eve's head towards the Forerunner ship. It was coming from behind. Eve looked over her shoulder and saw that the light came from a large hole built onto the back wall several miles away.

A roar from up ahead drew Eve's attention. She looked and saw a group of seven Brutes, three armed with Brute shots, the rest armed with plasma rifles, fire up at the buildings. Eve looked up to where they were firing and saw they were trying to kill Flood combat forms that were falling down from the tops of the buildings. The combat forms landed all around the Brutes and immediately began fighting with them.

"I knew that the Covenant was good at re-purposing Forerunner technology, but this is amazing." Auto said with a hint of interest and surprise in his voice. "They've been using the Forerunner ship's engines as an energy source for the city. The ship isn't so much launching as it is disengaging. It's uncoupling itself from High Charity's power grid."

"At least the Covenant won't have to worry on energy wasting anymore," Eve muttered.

"Oh, no!" Auto said in an alarmed tone. "The ship's launching in a few minutes! I can't hold it for that long! Get aboard that ship and stop Truth! That's all that matters!"

Eve ran down the pathway towards the slope at the end. She had to get to Truth now and stop him before the ship took off. If it left before she got there, then she was most likely going to die along with any other Covenant in the city as the Flood take it over.

_"Now is the time of our unfolding,"_ came Truth's voice. _"In a moment, we shall all become…as gods,"_

As Eve approached the slope that led up to the tower's edge, several loud thuds from behind caught her attention. She looked over her shoulder to see three combat forms, all unarmed, chasing after her. Eve skidded to a halt and swung her energy sword at the creatures. The blade cut through them like paper. The remains fell onto the floor, but more would be coming to take their place.

"Forget about the Flood, Eve!" Auto exclaimed. "You have to aboard that ship!"

Eve snapped back into reality and ran on towards the slope. She was just over ten metres away and closing.

_"If you falter, know this,"_ came Truth's voice. _"One final effort is all that remains,"_

Eve reached the slope she was about to run up when a Brute saw her. It aimed It's plasma rifle and fired at her. The blasts hit her suit, causing It's shield to light up. Eve dived onto the slope and threw her plasma rifle at the Brute, hitting the creature in the face. The Brute roared in pain and staggered back a few paces.

Then, a group of two combat forms jumped onto the Brute and dragged it to the floor. They hit the creature repeatedly with their tentacle hands until the Brute stopped breathing and lay still.

Eve stood up and ran up the slope to the top. When she reached it, she saw a large cirlce engraved into the floor on the very edge of the tower. A small pedestal rose up out of the floor next to the circle. Auto's avatar appeared out of the top of the pedestal. Eve walked up to the circle and stopped right in front of it.

"Eve," Auto said. "Good luck,"

Eve raised her foot to step forward. Suddenly, she stopped and set it back down.

"I'm not going," she said.

"What?" Auto exclaimed. "You have to!"

"I'm not leaving without you!" Eve said, turning to face Auto. "I want you to come with me!"

"You know why I can't, Eve!" Auto told her. "I have to stay here in case the Covenant activate the ring!"

"Well, we'll go over to the Amber Clad and set off It's fusion reactors!" Eve replied, her voice rising.

"You can't do that, Eve!" Auto half-shouted, his voice. "You won't get over there in time! Get into the conduit and stop Truth!"

"No!" Eve hissed. "Your coming with me if I have to leave!"

Eve went to grab Auto's data cord, which was in a slot on the side of the pedestal.

"NO!" Auto yelled.

The data cord went inside the pedestal. Eve clenched her teeth and glared at Auto.

"Auto! Get in your data cord and get out of the pedestal! Now!" Eve hissed, adding a dangerous tone on the last word.

"No!" Auto said through gritted teeth. "You have to go after Truth! I'm not coming with you! Jump into the conduit!"

Eve moved her hand away from the pedestal. She growled and clenched her hand into a fist as if she was going to hit Auto. Then, she sighed and lowered her hand to her side. A sad look came upon her face.

"I don't want you to stay here, Auto!" she said, trying hard to hold back her tears. "I don't want to lose anyone that's dear to me again!"

"You won't," Auto said calmly. "I'll be alright. I promise,"

Eve looked at Auto. Tears formed up in her eyes and made them look like glass, but she managed to hold them back. Eve moved her face towards Auto and pushed him into her cheek. Auto moved his hands and placed them across Eve's soft cheek.

"I will come back for you," Eve whispered to him. "I promise you,"

Auto smiled and the two moved away from each other.

"Now go," he said. "Go stop Truth,"

Eve nodded and stepped onto the circle. Eve hovered into the air into the green laser. At once, she was pushed forward, as if done by a pair of invisible hands, so she was lying down facing the Forerunner ship. Then, the shot forward towards the ship like a bullet.

Auto watched this from his pedestal.

"Go, Eve," he whispered. "Go save Earth,"

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! Eve soared on towards the Forerunner ship in the green light. The whooshes were from her speeding through some kind of circular rings hovering in mid-air and the green light going right through the middle of them. Eve looked down and saw the city of _High Charity_ pass below her. She then looked up and saw the Forerunner ship get closer with every mile.

Suddenly, when Eve had just passed being a mile from the ship, a large light suddenly erupted out of the bottom of the middle of the craft. It was taking off! Slowly, the ship lifted up into the air. No! She was too late!

Then, the green light suddenly disappeared. She was left flying in mid-air! Eve began to panic as she continued towards the ship. What was she going to do?

Wait! There was an opening near the bottom of the side of the ship. She was starting to fall so she would land in there! Hopefully, it was not where the engines were or she was dead.

Suddenly, when Eve was just a few hundred feet from the opening, large blast doors came out of the walls and began to close over the opening. Eve went wide-eyed and pointed her body down in a dive. She was moving faster now, but was she going to get through the opening in time. She had to! Just another two hundred feet! One hundred and fifty! One hundred, almost there!

YES! When Eve passed the blast door, she lifted her body up so the bottom of her body was facing the inside of the ship. It was some kind of large chamber with an enormous white circle at the bottom and a slope wall going around the edge of the white circle. Her body landed on the slope wall. Eve pushed down with her hands, slowing her fall to a halt. The slope was just at the right angle enough for her to stand up. Eve stood up.

_"Eve, when you get to Earth, good luck,"_ Auto said through his com.

"I promise you," Eve replied as she faced the direction of the tower as if she were looking back at Auto. "After I'm through with Truth, I'll come for you,"

_"You should never make a promise,"_ Auto said to her through his com. _"If you know you can't keep it,"_

Auto watched as the Forerunner ship flew further into the sky towards the large hole in the top of the city's roof. Within a few seconds, it had disappeared through the hole and was flying into space.

Outside the Covenant holy city, the Brute and Elite fleets were still engaged with each other. Even with the Flood fighting each other in their holy city, the two sides were still determined to fight each other to the death, no matter what the cost was.

The Forerunner ship flew away from _High Charity_ as if it were a refugee ship leaving a war torn and uninhabitable planet. When it was far away enough, a large white circle appeared several miles in front of the ship. The Forerunner craft flew into the circle and disappeared.

It's destination: unknown.


	19. The Great Journey

**Minutes later**

**Location: **_**Delta Halo**_

A clap of thunder filled the dark cloud covered sky but there was no lightning visible anywhere. Then, small drops began to fall from the clouds. It was starting to rain. St the sight of rain on Earth, everyone would be rushing indoors to stop themselves getting wet.

For two creatures, however, they would not be rushing inside a building to stop themselves getting wet. They had a mission to do, and they were going to complete it.

Just moments earlier, the Arbiter had come out of the mountain rock wall that helped form a large valley several hundred feet in front of an enormous structure that was right on some kind of small beach. His ally and close friend Vadumee had met him here just seconds after the Arbiter emerged from the mountain and just now, the two of them had witnessed Tartarus, the chieftain of the Brutes, take Mary, a UNSC commander, and Wally, a monitor of what was the last Halo, inside the structure. What were they doing in that structure?

The Arbiter looked at the enormous structure once again.

"What is that place?" he asked Vadumee.

"Where the councilors were meant to watch the consecration of the Sacred Icon," Vadumee answered. "The start of the Great Journey,"

The Arbiter took in what Vadumee explained to him. In his mind, a voice was telling him something he had heard before. It was instantly recognizable. It was that creature.

**"There is still time to stop the key from turning,"**

The creature was right. There was still time to stop Tartarus from activating the ring, but how much? Whether it was minutes or even hours, the Arbiter had to hurry. Eventually, no matter how much time it took, Tartarus would activate Delta Halo.

"I must get inside," he said.

"Then mount up, Arbiter," Vadumee replied. "I know a way to break those doors,"

Vadumee disappeared inside the wraith and closed the hatch. The enormous vehicle turned and hovered off towards the left turning at the end of the valley; the Arbiter followed.

As the wraith came to the left turning, it suddenly fired a mortar blast down into the next part of the valley. The Arbiter ran up next to the wraith and looked down. This part of the valley was shorter and had a turning that went right. Down the middle of it were two large rocks about twenty feet high and half as long and spaced about thirty feet from each other. The Arbiter then saw what Vadumee had fired on.

A few feet right from the first large rock, about ten feet away from the two, was the remains of a ghost. Lying next to it was the body of a Brute. It must have tried to attack when the wraith came around the corner.

Vadumee drove the wraith forward down the valley towards the right turning; the Arbiter right behind him. As the two came into the next part of the valley, which was a lot longer and had several flat rocks dug into the ground in the middle and near the back of it, they saw a wraith and a pair of ghosts hovering up ahead near the end of the valley, which had another turning leading left.

_"Arbiter,"_ came Vadumee's voice. _"I will cover you. Try and hijack one of those vehicles,"_

The Arbiter nodded and ran down the valley towards the three vehicles up ahead. Just a few seconds after he started running, a mortar blast flew over his head and landed behind one of the ghosts. BOOM! The ghost flew through the air and hit the left rock wall of the valley. The body of a large figure fell out of the vehicle and onto the ground.

Reacting immediately to what had just happened; the wraith ahead of the Arbiter fired a mortar blast down towards the enemy wraith. The Arbiter looked over his shoulder and saw Vadumee's wraith moved to the right. The mortar blast hit the ground and exploded just a few metres from the craft. A mortar blast flew out of Vadumee's wraith. The Arbiter watched it sail through the air towards the Brute wraith, which moved left and narrowly avoided the deadly blast.

Suddenly, a large shape shot towards the Arbiter. He looked ahead of him and saw it was a ghost. Piloting it was a Brute. The Arbiter could just see the evil smile on the creature's face. He was going to kill him by driving full speed and ramming into the Arbiter.

The Arbiter jumped into the air. The ghost soared past underneath him, missing him by a mere millimetre. However, just as the back of the ghost went past the Arbiter grabbed hold of it. He was now riding the ghost a new way. The Brute piloting the vehicle looked over his shoulder to see the Arbiter there.

The Arbiter swung a fist at the Brute, hitting the creature in the jaw. The Brute roared in pain and took both of his hands off the controls of the ghost. Big mistake. The Brute fell off the ghost onto the ground head first. His head hit the ground at an awkward angle. A loud snapping sound filled the Arbiter's ears. The Brute lay on the floor and did not rise again. The ghost deactivated and fell to the ground a few metres in front of Vadumee's wraith.

_"Good work, Arbiter,"_ came Vadumee's voice. _"Now help me take care of this wretched beast,"_

The Arbiter nodded and climbed into the ghost. The vehicle activated and hovered up a few inches from the ground. The Arbiter turned the ghost around and shot towards the Brute wraith, narrowly missing another mortar blast as it hit the ground where he had just been. The Arbiter stopped his ghost a few metres in front of the Brute wraith and pressed down on the controls. A barrage of blasts hit the armour of the wraith.

BOOM! A mortar blast hit the Brute wraith right on the top of the vehicle. A pillar of smoke rose up from the wraith. The Arbiter saw this and continued firing on the enemy vehicle. The Brute fired a mortar blast at the Arbiter, but his ghost's speed easily outmatched the mortar blast and it moved left in the blink of an eye. The mortar blast exploded on the ground. The wraith turned to face the Arbiter. Big mistake.

BOOM! Another mortar blast from Vadumee's wraith hit the side of the Brute wraith. BOOM! The Brute wraith exploded in a fireball, throwing large pieces of the armour across the valley. The body of the Brute piloting the vehicle flew into the air and landed on the ground next to the burning vehicle.

_"Nicely done,"_ came Vadumee's voice. _"We are almost there. Just in the next valley,"_

The Arbiter nodded and drove the ghost around the wraith's remains into the next, valley, which was shorter but had no rocks covering it. Vadumee followed close behind in his wraith. When the two vehicles reached the end of the end of this part of the valley, they turned right. There, they stopped.

Ahead of them was a large circular shaped open area alongside a cliff that led down to the sea. Near the right side of the open area was a large structure built into the rock wall. It had a large square shaped platform with two long rectangular panel-like sections sticking out of the bottom of the platform into the mountain, probably for extra support. The top of the structure was more of a beam rifle-like shape, much like the control room of Delta Halo. However, it was what was in front of the structure that drew the Arbiter's and Vadumee's attention.

Standing at least one hundred and fifty feet tall with a huge rectangular-like block main section and four legs coming out of the vehicle, two at the front and two at the back. The front of the vehicle had a large cylindrical top main section that would open up like a flower to reveal a silo, which was a turret. Along the top of the main section of the vehicle was an archway. It was a scarab, so far the most destructive and deadly land vehicle the Covenant had ever made.

The hatch on Vadumee's wraith opened up. Vadumee pulled himself up from inside the vehicle.

"That scarab, Arbiter, will help you," he said to the Arbiter. "It's main gun will break the control room's door."

"How do we get into it?" the Arbiter asked Vadumee, who replied by pointing towards the rock wall near the cliff side, which was partly blocked by a large rock.

"At the far end of the beach, there is a passage into the cliff," Vadumee explained. "It will take you up to the scarab,"

The Arbiter nodded and drove his ghost towards where Vadumee pointed. Vadumee disappeared back inside the wraith and drove the massive vehicle after the Arbiter. As the two approached the rock, three shapes shot out from behind it. Ghosts. Driving them were Brutes. They charged straight towards the Arbiter and Vadumee.

The Arbiter immediately swerved left to avoid a head on collision with one of the ghosts. The Brute driving the vehicle failed to stop in time and his ghost hit the Arbiter's. However, it did not stop there. The Brute's ghost flew into the air. The Brute driving it screamed and, in his panic, fell out of his seat. The Brute screamed as he fell to the ground, where it stopped abruptly as he collided with the dirt. The ghost he had been driving crashed down next to him.

Vadumee fired a mortar blast at another of the ghosts as it fired on him. It missed and exploded on the ground. The Brute laughed and fired another set of blasts at Vadumee's wraith. Another mortar blast flew out of the wraith and hit the ground near the Brute's ghost, narrowly missing it by a few metres. The Brute laughed again.

_This Elite is an easy target!_ it thought.

Suddenly, another ghost slammed into the side of the Brute ghost. It was the Arbiter. The Brute's ghost spun over a few times until it came to rest on the ground a few metres away from where it had just been. Vadumee saw his chance and fired a mortar blast at the Brute ghost. The craft exploded in a fireball, killing the Brute instantly.

"Thank you for your help, Arbiter," came Vadumee's voice. "I would have gone mad if you had not helped,"

The Arbiter nodded and turned his ghost round so it was facing the rock in front of the cliff side.

Suddenly, the third Brute ghost slammed into his. The Arbiter was taken by surprise, but it was quickly overshadowed when he saw the cliff approaching him fast. The Brute was trying to push him over the edge! He had to do something or he was dead.

The Arbiter jumped out of his seat onto the front of the Brute's ghost. The Brute growled at his unwanted passenger and threw a punch at the Arbiter. The Arbiter dodged the attack and swung his foot at the Brute's face. The Brute roared as the foot hit his forehead. The Brute grabbed his head as a small trickle of blood came out of the creature's forehead. The Arbiter jumped off the ghost onto the ground. Just in time. The two ghosts flew over the edge of the cliff. The Brute's screams filled the air but they quickly faded away within a few seconds.

"Good work, Arbiter," came Vadumee's voice as the wraith hovered over to him. "Now, let's get inside that structure and take command of that-"

Vadumee suddenly stopped talking. The Arbiter stared at the wraith with concern. What was the matter with him?

The hatch suddenly flew open. Vadumee pulled himself up from the depths of the wraith.

"Those vile, disloyal creatures!" he growled.

"What is it?" the Arbiter asked.

"Look out to sea," Vadumee answered.

The Arbiter did so. At first, he could see nothing. Then, he could make out a large shape in the clouds. It was a large ship that was mainly silver coloured. It was a CCS battle cruiser.

"The Brutes control that cruiser, Arbiter," Vadumee said. "You go on. I will remain here and make sure no reinforcements get in behind you. Then, I'm going to take the cruiser back,"

The Arbiter nodded.

"Good luck," he said to Vadumee, who replied with a nod.

The Arbiter turned and ran towards the cliff side where Vadumee had pointed to earlier. As he approached it, he saw a large diamond shaped door built into the side of the rock wall. A few metres in front of it was the large rock that was blocking the view of the door from the valley.

As the Arbiter approached the door, he saw several Brutes lying dead on the ground. How the hell did they get killed? Maybe a few Elites passed by here earlier. Though if they did, they were most likely to be dead.

The Arbiter ran up to the door, causing it to open. He was revealed with a small rectangular shaped room with gold coloured walls and two large doors on the back wall. One at the left end and one at the right end. However, there were a few barricades placed across the middle of the room. On the floor in front of the barricades were three more dead Brutes. Next to the left end of the barricade was the body of a minor Elite. The Arbiter stepped into the room, his plasma rifle raised.

Suddenly, a figure shot up from behind the barricade. It was a minor Elite. In his hands were two needlers. The Elite was about to slam his fingers down on the weapons' triggers when he recognized the figure that had just entered the room.

"Arbiter!" he exclaimed. "I thought you were dead!"

"They did not manage to kill me," the Arbiter replied.

Suddenly, loud footfalls filled the air. The Arbiter looked over his shoulder back outside but there was no one there. The door then closed, sealing the Arbiter inside the building. The Arbiter turned to see a pair of huge bulky figures with thick blue armour, a huge sword-like weapon on one arm and a cannon on the other run into the room. Hunters. They came out of the doorways, one at each end. They halted where they were and appeared to be taking aim directly at the Arbiter.

"Hold your fire! It's the Arbiter" the minor Elite ordered, stopping the Hunters from killing their ally. The minor Elite turned his head back towards the Arbiter. "The Hunters have come to our aid, Arbiter." he said. "They will fight by our side,"

"We need to get to the top of the structure," the Arbiter explained. "The scarab. I must get into it."

"Follow us, Arbiter," the minor Elite told him. "We will guide you there."

The minor Elite ran out from behind the barricade and disappeared into the left doorway. The Hunters turned and ran through their doorways; the Arbiter followed. The group met up on the other side of the doorways in a small corridor that led to a large room dug into the mountain. There was a square shaped platform on the left side of the room, which the squad came out onto. A pathway came out of the side of it onto another square shaped platform, that was on the right side of the dug out room, about twenty feet away. On the rock wall behind the platform, on the right side of the room, was another diamond shaped door. Along the front of both platforms was a small wall. Below both platforms was a huge drop that was covered with pitch blackness. If they fell into the hole, then that would be the end of them.

As the group entered the room, the diamond shaped door on the right wall opened up. Three brutes, all armed with Brute shots, charged into the room. They fired on the intruders and dived behind the platform's wall. The Elites did the same.

The two Hunters aimed their cannons at the Brutes. A light green colour filled them. The lasers inside them were charging up. Suddenly, they shot out of the two silos and headed straight towards the Brutes. One of the lasers missed but the other hit a Brute that stood up to fire another shot, killing the creature.

"We have to hurry," the minor Elite said to the Arbiter as the Hunters fired again. "If we fight for too long, then the Brutes will alert their leaders to our presence,"

"Keep them distracted," the Arbiter ordered. "I will take care of them,"

Before the Elite could reply, the Arbiter crouched and moved towards the pathway that went to the next platform. As he reached it, he saw that there was no wall along the side of the pathway. It was completely exposed. The Arbiter had gone through something similar to this earlier on. The only difference was that the pathway was much shorter. The Brute platform was too far away for the Arbiter to jump onto. The only thing he could do was run down the pathway as quickly as he could and kill the Brutes. He just had to hope that they did not see him.

The Arbiter breathed in. He got up and ran.

Almost immediately, shots exploded behind him. The Brutes had spotted him. So much for trying to sneak over there. Luckily, they could only fire once before they had to dive down behind the wall again to avoid the lasers from the Hunters. Well, at least that gave the Arbiter a bit of an advantage. He was just ten feet from the end of the pathway. He could make it.

He did. However, as soon as the Arbiter reached the next platform, one of the Brutes threw his weapon on the ground and charged towards the Arbiter. It was beserking! The Arbiter only got as far as bringing up his plasma rifle before the Brute was upon him.

The Brute pinned the Arbiter to the pathway floor. One knee was on his chest, the other was on the floor. The Brute grabbed the Arbiter's neck and began to squeeze. The Arbiter aimed his weapon at the Brute and tried to fire but the brute knocked the weapon out of his hand and placed his knee on the Arbiter's arm. It looked like it was the end for the Arbiter.

Suddenly, the Brute roared in pain and let go of the Arbiter's neck. A barrage of purple projectiles had been fired onto his arm. The Arbiter looked down the pathway and saw the minor Elite standing there with his two needlers raised. The Brute got off the Arbiter and staggered backwards as the projectiles exploded on his arm, making a small trickle of blood flow. The Arbiter saw his chance and grabbed the Brute and, with all his strength, throw the creature over the edge of the pathway into the darkness below.

"You will die for that, Arbiter!" a deep voice shouted.

The Arbiter shot round to see the last Brute standing up with his Brute shot aimed directly at him. His finger was on the trigger. Now all he had to do was press down.

Suddenly, the Brute let out a roar as he was thrown to the platform floor. Just as he was about to fire, one of the Hunters had fired a laser at him, killing him instantly.

"Good work," the Arbiter said to his troops. "Continue on,"

The Arbiter ran cross the platform to the diamond shaped door. It opened as he approached it, revealing a slope pathway that led up to another diamond shaped door. The Arbiter ran up the slope pathway to the top; the squad followed. The door at the top opened, revealing a long corridor with another diamond shaped door at the end. The Arbiter led the squad down the corridor to the end. The door opened as they approached it.

The Arbiter held up a hand, signalling the squad to stop. He then moved it down. Get down! The squad did so.

The Arbiter crouched down and crept forward into the room. The room was a large pentagon-like shape with a pathway, about ten feet above the floor, going around the edge of the wall. The diamond shaped door the Arbiter had just come out of was near the corner of the right side of the room. A small slope lead down from the pathway, about ten feet ahead of the Arbiter, to the floor. Along the walls next to and underneath the pathway were large square shaped openings that led into short rectangular shaped rooms. Another diamond shaped door was at the opposite end of the room.

Hovering in front of four of them was a purple/violet coloured shield that was coming out of some kind of box shaped device placed on the floor. From his position, the Arbiter could see two figures behind two of the shields. In one of the rooms was another Hunter. In the other was an Elite with a large silver crown on his head that had a shield come the Elite's face. It was a councillor.

"The councillors are still alive," the minor Elite whispered as he, crouched, moved up next to the Arbiter.

"We must free them," the Arbiter said.

He was about to get up when something made him stop. A large figure walked into his view. A Brute. In his hand was a plasma rifle. Another Brute walked up to the Brute and the two began chatting. A smaller figure walked past the two Brutes. It was a Jackal. There were bound to be more the two kinds of creatures in here.

"We must try and sneak attack them," the Arbiter whispered to the minor Elite, who replied with a nod.

Suddenly, one of the Jackals scratched his chin. As he was doing so, his eyes travelled round the room, which they had mostly done for the past few hours he had been trapped in here guarding prisoners. Then, they rested on two shapes. They looked like… ELITES!

Immediately, the Jackal activated his shield and screeched loudly, pointing up at the two Elites. The two Brutes nearby shot round and fired a barrage of blasts at the two Elites, who dived away from the walkway ledge. On the floor below, more Brutes ran out from under the walkway, followed by a group of Jackals.

As the Arbiter and the minor Elite got up, the two Hunters ran past them and stood on the edge of the walkway. Their cannons charged up and aimed down at the Brutes and Jackals, who immediately began to scatter at the sight of the coming danger.

BOOM! BOOM! Two lasers exploded in the room, followed by a roar of pain and a loud screech. One of the Brutes and a Jackal had not moved quick enough and had been instantly killed by the Hunters' lasers. The Hunters fired again. One narrowly missed another Jackal but the other hit and killed another of the Brutes.

Suddenly, one of the Hunters was hit by something on It's cannon arm. It came from the right further up the walkway. The Hunter looked to It's right and saw a Brute standing about ten feet away. Raised up at the enormous creature was a Brute shot. The Brute fired again. It hit It's target, but this time it struck somewhere more painful. The Hunter roared and placed It's sword arm over It's head. Then, it fell sideways over the edge of the pathway and crashed onto the floor and lay still.

The other Hunter growled. Pure anger and hatred rose up through it like a boiling kettle. That Brute had just killed It's friend! Hunters were paired up when they went into combat and if one was killed, the other was determined to strike at the one who killed It's friend. That was what the Hunter was going to do. It was going to kill the Brute. Hopefully, as painful as possible.

The Hunter charged towards the Brute. The creature suddenly became panicked. He had been brave enough to kill one of the Hunters but he never expected the other Hunter, filled to the top with absolute rage and fury, to charge at him. The Brute staggered backwards and tired to reload his weapon. The Hunter was getting closer. It brought back It's sword arm, ready to strike.

A second later, a loud roar filled the room. The Brute with the Brute shot was sent flying through the air. His head hit the edge of the pathway opposite at an awkward angle. A loud snapping sound filled the room and the Brute fell to the floor, dead. The other Brute and Jackals troops in the room then fired up at the Hunter, who turned and tried to run back up the pathway towards the door it came through.

Big mistake.

With their attention focused on the Hunter, the Arbiter and the minor Elite took the opportunity to finish off the rest of the Brutes and their allies. They jumped down from the pathway and charged towards the Brutes and the Jackals. By the time they saw them coming it was too late.

The Arbiter swung his plasma rifle at one of the last two remaining Brutes, hitting him in the head. The Brute roared in pain and dropped his plasma rifle, which the Arbiter grabbed and fired, along with his own, at the Brute. The blast barrage hit and, after a few seconds, killed the Brute. The minor Elite fired a few needler projectiles at the other Brute. The hit him and, along with a double strike over the head by the minor Elites' needlers, killed him. The Elite then fired at the last Jackal whilst it was trying to return fire on him, killing him.

"Praise!" one of the councillor Elites, who was behind one of the shields a few feet away from the two Elites shouted. "The Arbiter is here!"

"Are you unhurt, councillor?" the Arbiter asked as he ran up to the shield, dropping his Brute plasma rifle on the floor.

"Yes," the councillor answered. "They ambushed us and stripped us of our weapons. We are the only survivors,"

"Do not worry," the Arbiter told the councillor. "We have killed many of the Brutes to avenge the deaths of our comrades. But right now, we must get to the scarab. Tartarus is here and he is planning on activating the ring,"

"Then we must stop him!" the councillor growled. "Free us and we will guide you to the scarab,"

The Arbiter nodded and fired a few blasts from his plasma rifle at the box shaped object in front of the shield. The object exploded in an electrical fizzing-like noise. At first, nothing happed to the shield. Then, it slowly began to fade away. Within a few seconds, it had completely disappeared. The councillor was free.

"Thank you, Arbiter," the councillor said as he ran out of his former cell.

Suddenly, the Hunter's cannon fired in the room. The Arbiter shot round, his plasma rifle raised, thinking that another group of Brutes had entered the room. Instead, the Hunter was over on the other side of the room and it had just destroyed another of the box shaped objects. The shield coming out of the object faded away and disappeared, freeing another Hunter. The minor Elite ran over to the other side of the room and fired on another of the objects in front of a rectangular room holding another councillor Elite. He fired a few projectiles at the object emitting the shield. The object exploded and the shield faded away. The Arbiter did the same to another that was trapping a Hunter on his side of the room.

When the four prisoners had been freed, the first councillor Elite the Arbiter freed ran up to the diamond shaped door on the back wall of the room.

"Follow us, Arbiter," he said. "We will lead you to the scarab,"

The door opened up as the Elite approached it, revealing a short corridor on the other side. At the end was another diamond shaped door. The councillor Elite ran into the corridor; the squad followed. The door at the end of the corridor opened as they approached it, revealing a large rectangular shaped room to the squad.

The room had a glass floor and several pillars along It's walls. Along both walls were several boxes and racks filled with Covenant and Human weapons. On the wall opposite where the squad were was another diamond shaped door. The councillor Elite over to a rack about half-way down the left wall, allowing the rest of the squad to enter the room, and took out an energy sword activator. He activated it and gave a comfortable-like sigh.

"Ah, it is good to have my blade back," he said.

"And it is the same for me," the other councillor Elite piped up as he ran over to another rack and took out an energy sword activator.

"Is the scarab much further?" the Arbiter asked.

"Just up ahead. Only a few more rooms to go," the first councillor Elite replied.

"I will go first," the Arbiter said.

The Elites nodded in agreement and followed the Arbiter as he ran over to the diamond shaped door at the other end of the room, causing it to open. The Arbiter led the squad into an L shaped room that had a right turning. The Arbiter walked into the L shaped room, the squad right behind him.

"The scarab is just up ahead," the first councillor Elite said to the Arbiter, pointing towards the diamond shaped door on the other side of the room.

"I will go first," the Arbiter replied. "Follow me and keep low,"

The Arbiter walked towards the door at the other end of the room. It opened as he approached it. However, he was not revealed with another corridor or a large room. Instead, he saw a large platform in front of him. Two large triangle-like walls came down from the mountain behind the Arbiter. They formed a small path onto the platform. At the end of the platform about fifty feet ahead was the scarab.

Then, the Arbiter saw something else near the edge of the platform. He could see two Brutes standing guard there. Lined up on their knees near the edge of the platform were three humans. The Arbiter immediately recognized one of them to be the sergeant he had seen earlier on in the ring's library. What were the brutes doing with them here?

_"Mine will do,"_ came a familiar voice over the Arbiter's com built into his armour. _"Kill the others,"_

"Yes chieftain," came the voice of one of the Brutes standing guard over the Humans. He turned to his friend. "How should we kill them?" he asked his comrade, a slight hint of enjoyment in his voice.

"A day's ration says I can do this one in one cut," the second Brute said, grabbing hold of Johnson's shoulder.

They were doing a bet.

"Two cuts at least," the first Brute replied, trying to make the bet better.

"Done," the second Brute said.

He knelt down and picked up some kind of sharp claw-like object. He was going to slash it across John's body! Even though he fought with him earlier, the Arbiter had to stop him. Maybe the Humans could help them, though he really highly doubted it.

The Arbiter shot up from the pathway and charged towards the two Brutes. As he approached them, the first Brute noticed the figure coming towards them. He looked and saw it was an enemy.

"THE ARBITER!" the Brute roared.

Before the second Brute could turn, the Arbiter swung his plasma rifle at the creature, hitting him in the face. The Brute roared in pain and placed his hands over his face, dropping the claw-like weapon.

"Alright! GO!" John suddenly shouted.

John and the two marines he was with stood up and charged into the first Brute. The Covenant soldier was taken completely by surprise and he was pushed over the edge of the platform. He screamed as he fell towards the ground, only to stop abruptly once he hit it. John and the two marines then climbed onto the scarab and ran inside it.

The Arbiter swung his plasma rifle at the second Brute again. This time, he threw the creature to the floor. The Arbiter then fired a few blasts at the Brute. The creature gasped for breath for a few seconds before it lay still and made no noise at all.

The Arbiter scanned the platform. Where were the Humans? Had they fallen over the edge of the platform to the ground below? The Arbiter looked over the edge and saw no bodies on the ground, apart from the Brute the Humans had pushed over.

_"We're here, split lip!"_ came John's voice all of a sudden.

The Arbiter looked up and saw the front of the scarab coming towards him like a predator checking out something to see if it was food. The Arbiter back away slightly, in fear that the Humans were going to shoot at him.

_"Now listen,"_ came John's voice. _"You don't like me and sure as hell don't like you! But if we don't do something, Mr. Mohawk is going to activate this ring! And we're all going to die!"_

"It will be hard getting to him," the Arbiter told John. "Tartarus has locked himself inside the control room,"

_"Well, I just happen to have a key,"_ John replied as the front of the scarab opened up, revealing the vehicle's powerful turret. _"Come on. Grab a banshee and give me some cover. He's going to know we're coming,"_

As soon as John finished speaking, as if on cue, a large shape flew out from behind the rock wall that made up the right side of the circular open area. Two smaller shapes followed the large shape. As they came closer, the Arbiter saw that the large shape was a phantom. The two smaller shapes were banshees.

The phantom stopped alongside the platform and the side of it opened up. The two banshees landed on the platform a few metres away. Both of the pilots, both major Elites,

"Arbiter!" a voice behind him exclaimed.

The Arbiter turned to see the rest of the squad running towards him. The first councillor Elite stopped in front of him.

"Where are the Humans?" the Elite asked.

Before the Arbiter could answer, the councillor Elite saw the scarab move towards the valley.

"Why are they in the scarab?" the Elite asked the Arbiter.

"They are going to help us break into the control room," the Arbiter answered.

Before the councillor could reply, the Arbiter turned and walked towards the phantom. A zealot Elite came out of the phantom's cog pit.

"Arbiter," he said. "Have you managed to take control of the scarab?" he asked him.

"No," the Arbiter answered. "The Humans have taken control of it but they are also trying to break into the control room. Where is Vadumee?" he asked the zealot Elite.

"Vadumee and a large force of Elites have launched an assault on the cruiser," the zealot Elite answered. "We are slowly taking back the ship but we need reinforcements. I'm afraid we will have to take the troops you have with you back with us,"

The Arbiter nodded.

"Very well," he said. "Tell Vadumee to meet up with me at the control centre once the cruiser has been taken back,"

The zealot Elite nodded. The Arbiter's squad ran past him into the phantom. One of the major Elites ran towards the phantom as well. As he approached the craft, he stopped next to the Arbiter.

"Take my banshee, Arbiter," the Elite said to him. "May our holy fathers guide you through the Brute vermin,"

The Arbiter nodded. The Elite ran onto the phantom and the side of the ship closed up. The craft lifted into the air before turning and flying back over the cliff towards the cruiser far away above the sea. One of the banshees that arrived with the craft followed. Within a few seconds, the two craft had disappeared into the sky.

The Arbiter turned and ran towards the parked banshee the major Elite left for him. He climbed in and the craft hovered into the air. The Arbiter turned the banshee round and flew after the scarab as it walked into the valley. Now was the start of the fight to the control room.

_"Stay close,"_ came John's voice. _"Mr Mohawk will definitely have some of his boys round here to try and stop us,"_

No sooner than a second passed after John stopped speaking before an explosion erupted on the right front leg of the scarab. The Arbiter flew his banshee down towards the ground. His landscape computer on the controls inside the craft showed the cause to be a wraith. It was stationed at the entrance to the next part of the valley. On a flat rock behind it was a shade turret. Sitting in It's seat was a Brute.

The Arbiter dived down and fired a barrage of blasts at the wraith. They hit their target but did little damage. The Brute on the shade turret pressed down on the controls, causing a barrage of blasts to fly at the banshee. Some of them hit their target. The Arbiter flew his banshee upwards in a desperate attempt to save himself from being blown up in mid-air.

As the Arbiter's banshee flew past the tops of the rock walls that made up the valley, he heard the loud sound of something charging up. The Arbiter turned his banshee around and flew back down towards the ground. Through his landscape computer, he saw the scarab's main gun charging up. Suddenly, a green laser fired out of the silo and tore across the ground. The wraith was hit first and the vehicle exploded into a fireball. The Brute on the shade turret jumped off the weapon and tried to run from the scarab but the laser caught up with the Brute and when it went past where he had been standing, he was gone. He had been completely obliterated.

_"Ha!"_ John shouted. _"How do you like it?"_

The scarab's four legs moved the enormous craft out of the first part of the valley and into the second part. The Arbiter followed with his banshee flying above the enormous vehicle.

When the two vehicles were about half-way down the second part of the valley, a set of blasts hit the side of the Arbiter's banshee. He turned his craft to where the blasts came from to see another banshee flying towards him. A Brute was flying it and attempting to shoot him down.

The Arbiter barrel rolled his banshee right to avoid an ion blast from the Brute's banshee. He pressed down on the cannon's controls, causing a barrage of blasts to fly out at the banshee's cannons. They hit the engine of the Brute's banshee, blowing it to pieces. However, the banshee was still airborne. The brute turned his banshee right so it was flying straight towards the Arbiter's banshee. The Arbiter, however, used this as an advantage.

He pressed down on the controls. A green object flew out of his banshee towards the Brute's banshee. It hit the craft in the front. BOOM! The banshee exploded into a green fireball. The Brute's body and the remains of the banshee fell out of the sky to the ground below.

_"Arbiter,"_ came John's voice. _"We got one on our tail. Take it out!"_

The Arbiter flew his banshee towards the ground. The entire scarab was in view below him. Flying in the air behind the scarab was another banshee. It fired an ion blast at the top of the main section of the scarab. The blast exploded and a small fire erupted on the back of the top of the scarab's main section. Two small figures ran out of the scarab and tried to put out the fire.

The Arbiter dived his banshee towards the Brute banshee as it was flying further up into the sky away from the scarab. He pressed down on the cannon's controls. A barrage of blasts flew at the Brute's banshee. They hit it and caused a pillar of smoke to leave a trail out of the back of the craft. The Arbiter then fired an ion blast as the banshee made a dive in an attempt to get away.

BOOM! The ion blast hit the top of the banshee, making it explode into a fireball. The remains fell to the ground far below.

The scarab came out of the second part of the valley and quickly made it down the third and final section of the valley before turning right. The Arbiter followed close behind in his banshee. There, ahead of the two vehicles, was the control room. Inside was Tartarus. The Arbiter felt a spur of excitement run through him. Victory was near. All they had to do was get inside and they could stop Tartarus before he could activate the ring.

_"There it is!"_ John exclaimed. _"Let's get in there and free Mary and Wally."_

The scarab walked down the valley towards the ring's control centre. On the ground ahead of the enormous vehicle was the drop that the Arbiter could not get down to. Well, now he could though not in the way he expected. The scarab's front legs stepped down from the valley floor to the beach's surface. The back legs followed quickly afterwards. The vehicle moved forward about another fifty feet.

_"Alright, we're in position,"_ came John's voice.

As the Arbiter flew past the scarab, with the vehicle in his computer screen's view below him, he saw the front of the enormous craft rise up slightly so the gun was now facing the doorway at the end of the pathway.

_"Stay clear of the door, Arbiter!"_ John warned as the Arbiter's banshee hovered just over the path of the scarab's laser.

_"Hey, bastards, knock, knock!"_ John shouted as if he knew the Brutes could hear him.

The green laser in the scarab's silo began to charge up. After a few seconds, it fired out towards the end of the pathway. An explosion filled the air, followed by the sound of fire and crumbling metal and rock. However, when the laser stopped the door was still standing.

_"Damn!"_ John growled. _"Let me try again,"_

The laser inside the scarab's silo began to charge up again. After a few seconds, it fired out and hit the doorway that led into the structure. This time, the crumbling sound was much louder and another explosion filled the air afterwards. Then, the laser stopped firing. The Arbiter looked on his banshee's computer screen and saw the doors were still standing but they were very badly damaged.

"They are still standing," the Arbiter said.

The Arbiter heard John growl.

_"Damn!"_ he said. _"Well, we'll try once more,"_

The green laser began to charge up in the scarab's silo. This was the last try for the scarab's weapon to try and break through the entrance into the control centre. If it failed, then they would have to find another way into the structure to stop Tartarus.

The laser shot out from the scarab's silo towards the structure's entrance. As soon as it hit the door, a small but powerful explosion filled the air, followed by the loud sound of crumbling rock and steel. The laser strike was so powerful that it even caused an enormous cloud of smoke and dust to form in front of the door. Then the laser stopped. The dust cloud cleared after a few seconds. The Arbiter looked at his computer screen and saw that the door had been broken through. The way into the structure was clear!

_"Yes!"_ John exclaimed_. "Alright, Arbiter. Get in there and we'll follow you when we've managed to park the scarab up near the pathway,"_

The Arbiter flew his banshee towards the pathway. When he was about ten feet above it, he opened the hatch and dropped down from the craft onto the pathway. His banshee crashed loudly against the side of the structure before it fell over the edge to the ground below.

The Arbiter raised his plasma rifle and ran towards the doorway of the structure, or what was once the doorway. As the Arbiter reached it, he saw that the room on the other side, a square shaped room that had been split in two by a wall that came out of the right a few feet in front of the doorway and made a small rectangular-like area of the room and the square shape on the other side, had been almost completely destroyed by the scarab's laser. All the walls were burning and torn apart, making them look as though they had gone through an earthquake, the floor was cracked and had large chunks of it missing and the ceiling looked as through several bombs had crashed through it. The entire room was a mess. The Arbiter felt a bit of shock go through him.

_It is a good thing the Forerunners themselves are not here_ he thought in a relieved manner. _Otherwise, they would be furious with the Human_

The Arbiter shook the shock out of his mind. He had no time to worry about the structure's rooms. He had to get to the structure's control, room and stop Tartarus from activating the ring.

The Arbiter ran through the left gap around the wall into the square shaped part of the room. On the wall ahead of him was a diamond shaped door that had managed to survive the scarab's laser. The Arbiter ran towards the door, causing it to open. The Arbiter ran into a square shaped room with some kind of small replica of the structure placed in the middle of it. Near the other end of the room, on the right wall, was another diamond shaped door. The Arbiter ran towards the door. He was certain that on the other side of that door was the way to the control room.

As the Arbiter was ten feet from the door, it suddenly opened up and a pair of Brutes ran out with raised plasma rifles. The Arbiter dived behind the replica of the structure, which was only just big enough to conceal him.

"Do you think that the Elites?" one of the Brutes asked.

"I cannot be!" the other Brute growled. "They do not have any powerful weapons to break through the doors to this structure!"

"Let us see what the cause is," the other Brute replied.

The Arbiter had to kill these two Brutes. If he left them, then they would kill John and his two marines when they arrived on the structure's pathway. Then, he remembered his active camouflage. It had been a while since he had last used it. Well, it was time to use it again.

As the two brutes passed the replica towards the door, the first Brute suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Was that you?" he asked his comrade.

"What?" his comrade asked.

"Something hit my shoulder," the first Brute answered.

The two Brutes scanned the room. Their fingers were on their plasma rifles' triggers. If they so much suspected there was a threat in the room, they were ready to shoot it.

Suddenly, a plasma rifle flew through the air and hit the first Brute in the back. The Brute roared in pain before he fell to the floor, dead. The second Brute shot round to see a familiar enemy standing there.

"ARBITER!"

Before the Brute could fire his weapon, the Arbiter swung a fist at the Brute's face, hitting him in the jaw. The Brute roared in pain and staggered backwards as he dropped his weapon and placed his hands over his jaw to try and stop the pain. Bit mistake.

The Arbiter launched a kick that threw the Brute into the wall next to the door. He then grabbed the Brute's weapon and aimed both it and his plasma rifle at the Brute. He pressed down on both the weapons' triggers. A barrage of blasts flew at the Brute. They hit him repeatedly for the next few seconds before the Arbiter took his fingers off the triggers. The Brute was lying dead against the wall.

With the brutes dead and the threat of John and the marines being killed, the Arbiter turned and ran towards the diamond shaped door near the other end of the room. It opened as he approached it, revealing a wide corridor with many pillars going along the left and right walls. At the end was a large blast door that was closed. About half-way down the corridor was a large pathway, which the Arbiter could just see, that led off from the left wall of the corridor.

The Arbiter ran down the corridor towards the pathway. When he reached it, he turned left onto the pathway that led into some kind of enormous chamber. The Arbiter stopped at the chamber's entrance and gazed in awe at the chamber. This was the ring's control room.

The chamber was an enormous sphere shaped room with a hole at the bottom going far down into the structure. Some kind of bright light was placed in the hole. Hovering in the middle of the chamber were three large circular shaped platforms. Around most of the edges of the platforms were small four feet high walls. In the middle of each platform was a small circular shaped hole. Going through it was some kind of gold aura light that came out of some curved ramp-like objects lined around the small circle on the bottom platform. Scattered across the platforms were several cube shaped objects and small barrier-like objects. The pathway the Arbiter was on was connected to some kind of control panel on the middle platform. There were also several large square shaped platforms scattered around the chamber near the platforms.

As the Arbiter looked around the chamber, his eyes rested on a group of figures at the other end of the pathway. Four of them were large brown figures with huge bulging muscles and two of them had a red flag attached to the strap on their backs. Brutes. Also attached their straps were Brute plasma rifles and Brute shots. Standing further ahead of the Brutes was an even large Brute with white fur and huge muscles. On his strap was a huge object known as the Fist of Rukt. It was Tartarus. One of the Brutes standing behind him had hold of Wally whilst Tartarus had hold of Mary in one hand and the Index in the other. He was trying to get Mary to activate the ring, but so far she was not doing anything he told her.

"Come Human," Tartarus said to Mary. "It is easy. Take the Icon in your hands…" Tartarus went to hand Mary the Index but she just looked away. Tartarus was starting to lose his patience. He growled and pounded a fist on the control panel, which flashed a few red lights. "And do as you are told!"

Tartarus pushed Mary forward and if he had not grabbed hold of her, she could have hit her head on the control panel.

"Please! Do not hurt her!" Wally pleaded.

Tartarus whipped his head round to face Wally.

"If you speak once more, Oracle, I shall rip your eyes from their sockets!" he growled at Wally.

Tartarus turned his head back to Mary. He leaned in closer to her.

"Which is nothing compared to what I have in mind for you," he whispered in her ear.

Mary went wide-eyed. What Tartarus had just said to her did not sound good even the slightest. She probably already knew what it was he was going to do to her.

Tartarus went to push Mary forward again to try and get her to place the Index in the control panel. As he did, a figure walked up towards the group. It was the Arbiter They all had their backs turned so they did not see or hear him coming.

"Tartarus! Stop!" the Arbiter ordered.

Tartarus jerked his head up in surprise. He knew that voice! It was instantly recognizable. No! He could not be! Not him!

"Impossible!" he gasped as he, along with the Brutes and the two prisoners, turned to face the Arbiter.

"Put down the Icon," the Arbiter ordered. "And release the Human and the Oracle,"

"Put it down?" Tartarus repeated, growling. "And disobey the hierarchs?"

"There are things about Halo even the hierarchs do not understand," the Arbiter said.

This must have sparked anger among the Brutes because they all growled and one of them even went to walk towards the Arbiter to kill him. Tartarus, however, waved his arm, ordering them to stay where they were.

"Take care, Arbiter," he said. "What you say is heresy!"

"Is it?" the Arbiter asked. The Elite turned his head to face Wally. "Oracle, what is Halo's purpose?" he asked him.

"Halo has a… purpose to-" Wally began but was suddenly cut off when Tartarus grabbed his chest and held him in front of him.

"Not another word!" Tartarus growled at Wally.

"Please," another voice said, startling everyone. "Hurting him wouldn't be a good idea,"

Tartarus moved Wally out of his peripheral vision to see John standing next to the Arbiter. In his hands, and aimed at the Brutes, was a beam rifle.

The Brutes growled and clenched their hands into fists. John raised his beam rifle, aiming it at Tartarus.

"If you want to keep your brain inside your head, I'd tell those boys to chill!" he warned.

Tartarus glared at John. Then, he barked a command and the Brute stepped back to where they were.

"Go ahead," John said to the Arbiter. "Do your thing,"

The Arbiter nodded and looked back up at Wally.

"The Sacred Rings, what are they?" he asked Wally.

"They are weapons of last resort," Wally explained. "They were built by the Forerunners, my creators, to destroy all life in the galaxy to stop the Flood from spreading,"

"And those who built the rings? What happened to the Forerunners?" the Elite asked Wally.

"I…," Wally began. "I… I do not remember. All I know is that after the rings were fired, a handful of monitors were left to safeguard the rings. But I was placed on the ring that was destroyed with another monitor. I cannot explain why,"

The Arbiter lowered his head, taking in what Wally had just explained to them.

"Tartarus," he said, raising his head, after a few seconds, to look at the Brute chieftain. "Do you not see where all this is leading. We could be making a big mistake. The prophets could have been following a big mistake and all of this could turn into a catastrophe,"

Tartarus paused. He too was taking in what Wally had just explained. The prophets making a huge mistake following the Great Journey? No! How could they? They were the ones who had helped bring the Covenant together and for that, they deserved being the first to take part in the Great Journey and become Gods.

Suddenly, Tartarus threw Wally down the pathway. He ploughed into John, sending the two flying to the pathway floor. The Arbiter whipped out his plasma rifle, expecting Tartarus to attack. Tartarus, however, did not attack. Instead, he spun round, grabbed hold of Mary's hand, forcing the Index into it at the same time, and pushed it into one of the holographic slots on the control panel.

"No, Arbiter," he declared as if he were a general addressing his troops before battle. "The Great Journey has begun." Tartarus turned and grabbed his Fist of Rukt. "And the Brutes, not the Elites, shall be the prophets' escort,"

With Tartarus' back turned, Mary dived away from the control panel. At once, all the platforms around the chamber began to circle the platforms above and below the pathway. Then, the middle platform suddenly detached itself from the pathway and hovered down from the pathway until it was hovering in mid-air. A loud charging-like sound filled the chamber. That could only mean one thing.

The ring was preparing to fire!

As one of the platforms moved under the pathway, Mary jumped down and landed on it. This, however, did not go unnoticed by the Brutes.

"Chieftain!" one of the Brutes exclaimed as the platform moved underneath the pathway. "The Human female, she-"

"Not matter!" Tartarus interrupted. "We'll deal with her after we have rid ourselves of these fools!"

Tartarus raised his Fist of Rukt at the three standing further up the pathway. The Brutes took out their weapons and aimed them at Wally, John and the Arbiter. John, stood up and raised his beam rifle.

"Wally, get Mary and get out of here. We'll hold these guys off!" he ordered.

"No, I am not leaving you!" Wally replied.

John turned his head to face Wally and went to say something when…

"AAAHHHH!"

One of the Brutes suddenly screamed and fell to the floor, dead. A second later, another did the same. Everyone looked down at the dead bodies. What the hell had killed them all of a sudden?

"Arbiter!" a voice from the corridor shouted.

The Arbiter shot round to see a large group of fifteen Elites running towards them. Hey were a mixture of minor, major, zealot, stealth and even a few councillor Elites. They were all armed with plasma rifles, needlers, energy swords, carbines and beam rifles. Their target; Tartarus.

"KILL THEM!" Tartarus roared at his last two remaining Brutes.

Tartarus turned and jumped from the pathway to the middle platform.

The two Brutes raised their weapons but before they could even fire, John fired a shot from his beam rifle at the head of one of them, killing him. The Arbiter fired a blast from his plasma rifle, hitting the other Brute in the hand. The Brute roared in pain and dropped his weapon as he grabbed his injured hand. The Arbiter then charged forward and swung a fist at the Brute, hitting him and sending him over the edge of the pathway to the hole far below.

"We must get after Tartarus!" the Arbiter shouted to his comrades. "We cannot let him escape!"

The Arbiter jumped from the pathway onto the middle platform. Close behind were his Elite comrades. John ran up to the edge of the pathway and watched as Tartarus ran towards the circle on the middle platform. Wally activated his anti-gravity boots and hovered into the air. He flew over to Mary and landed next to her on the platform.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Mary replied. "Thank you,"

The two looked onto the middle platform and watched as Tartarus spun round, just feet from the middle circle, to face the Elites. The Arbiter and his comrades formed a circle around the Brute chieftain.

"It is over, Tartarus," the Arbiter said. "You may as well give up. You are not in an even fight,"

Tartarus only chuckled to the Arbiter's words.

"You are right, Arbiter," he said. "This is not an even fight. No matter,"

Suddenly, before the Elites could react, Tartarus took his Fisk of Rukt off his back and swung it at a zealot Elite and a minor Elite standing to his left. Before they had so much blinked, the weapon smashed into them. The two Elite flew through the air and landed on the floor a few metres from where they had been standing. They did not rise again afterwards.

Tartarus laughed as the Elites stared at their former comrades. With just one strike, they had been killed by Tartarus' Fist of Rukt. They had never known a powerful weapon like it.

"Let's see how you can last against my hammer," Tartarus said with an evil smile before he swung his weapon again at the Elites, hitting a major so hard that his body was thrown over the edge of the platform.

Immediately, the Elites scattered to get away from Tartarus and his Fisk of Rukt. The Arbiter jumped over one of the small barriers to avoid a hit from the deadly hammer, only just missing it.

Suddenly, an energy sword flew through the air. Holding it was a stealth Elite. He wanted to kill the Brute whilst he had the chance. The sword struck Tartarus in the back. Tartarus roared by not blood came out. The shield, instead of hitting the Brute's white skin, hit a white haze no more than a quarter of an inch from Tartarus' skin. Tartarus turned to face the stealth Elite and laughed.

"Your weapons are no match against my shield," he said with an evil smile.

Before the Elite could run, Tartarus swung his hammer at the silver armoured creature. The Elite screamed as he was hit, only to stop almost abruptly. The body fell to the floor and lay still.

Mary and Wally watched the battle unfold from the platform as it was on the other side of the three platforms.

Wally looked at the light as it went up to the ceiling. He could see some kind of ball forming in the hole where the light went into.

"Oh no!" he gasped in a panicked tone, drawing Mary's attention. She looked up and saw the ball forming in the hole "The charging sequence has been initiated! The primary generators will be coming online!"

"Can't you do anything?" Mary asked him, hoping for a yes. "Can't you… somehow shut them down?"

"No," Wally answered. "I do not think there is a way to shut them down!" his voice began to grow more panicked and hysterical. "We are too late. We-"

Wally was suddenly cut off when his eyes rested on a tiny object hovering in the light as it went up from the third platform to the second. It was small, black and had a thin green line going from the bottom of it to the top. The object was shaped like a capitol T. Wally looked in closer, almost losing sight of the object when Tartarus swung his hammer at a minor Elite, killing the creature. It was…

"The Index!" he exclaimed.

Yes! He had seen it! Perhaps, hopefully, they could still stop the ring from firing!

"Where?" Mary asked Wally, who replied by pointing into the light between the second and first platforms.

"I remember now!" Wally said. "If the Index is taken out of the energy field before it hits what is supposed to fire, It can be stopped!"

"What, so we can just take it out?" Mary asked Wally, just to make sure.

"Yes," Wally answered.

"Alright," Mary said. "When we go past the pathway, I'll join John and you can go get the Index,"

Wally shook his head.

"No, I cannot get the Index from the energy field," he explained. " I am not allowed to. Only a member of your race can do it,"

"Damn!" Mary hissed.

The platform they were on was only sixty feet from the pathway, and closing. They were going to pass underneath it. Mary looked up and saw John with his beam rifle aimed at the second platform.

"Alright," she said.

Mary looked up to where John was.

"John?" she shouted, causing him to look down at her. "I'm going to get the Index before it reaches the firing shot!"

"Hang tight, Mary," John shouted back. "You're not going on that platform until that Brute is dead,"

Mary growled. She could not wait until Tartarus was dead. By the time he was, the ring might have already fired. It might be too late. Things were slowly getting worse.

Back on the platform, things were not going so well either. The Elites had lost eight of their comrades. The only ones left were the Arbiter, two councillors, a zealot and four minors. They had tried everything to disable the Brutes' shield from swinging energy sword at him, which would result in the one holding the sword being killed, firing blasts and needler projectiles at him and even whacking him their weapons. Nothing was working. All of it was beaten off by his shield. It was impregnable.

"Arbiter!" John shouted, getting the Elite to look at him. "I'll try and hit in the head, see if that disables his shield. If it does, shoot him,"

The Arbiter nodded. John's idea was slightly crazy. It had very little chance of working. The Elites their weapons, all of which were just as or more powerful than the beam rifle. What difference was hitting him the head going to make?

John aimed down the scope of the beam rifle. He was aiming for Tartarus' head but it was proving difficult because every time he would go to fire, the Brute would move to try and kill another of the Elites.

"C'mon!" John growled as he just had to follow Tartarus through the scope again when he could have scored a hit. "Stay still, Mohawk!"

Tartarus swung his hammer at the Arbiter, missing him. The Arbiter dived behind a cube shaped object near the place where the Elites jumped from the pathway to the platform. Tartarus laughed.

"What's the matter, Arbiter?" he asked in a mocking manner. "Are you afraid of my little hammer?"

The Arbiter gritted his teeth and clenched his hand into a fist. Tartarus was mocking him! Oh, if he did not have that Fist of Rukt, he could pound that Brute's bear face in! It was then the Arbiter remembered that a few days ago, he wished to do the same thing to Tartarus. Looks like he got his wish, though not in the way he had wanted. Looks like he was going to have to do that part himself.

Suddenly, a loud roar filled the air. The Arbiter looked up from behind the barrier to see Tartarus holding the side of his head with one hand. What was the matter with him?

"Quick!" John shouted to the Arbiter from the pathway. "His shield's down! Take him out!"

The Arbiter nodded and fired a barrage of blasts from his plasma rifle at the Brute chieftain. They hit him and caused a small trickle of blood to flow. However, a white haze suddenly appeared again after a few seconds and the blasts hit that instead of Tartarus' skin. His shield was back.

Tartarus growled.

"Lucky hit, Arbiter! I will give you that," he said. He took hold of his hammer with both hands. "But you will not land another,"

Tartarus swung his hammer towards the Arbiter, who dived away just in time as the weapon landed on the barrier he had been hiding behind. A large crack appeared along the top and went down the side. That hit was definitely powerful but Tartarus was not going to stop there. He was going to kill all the Elites, especially the Arbiter, no matter what it took.

The Arbiter ran towards the centre of the platform. Tartarus chased after him. When the Arbiter was just six metres from the circle in the middle of the platform, he suddenly dived right, narrowly avoiding another strike from Tartarus' hammer. Tartarus then swung it at one of the last minor Elites as it tried to run past him, killing the Elite and sending it flying to the platform floor.

However, it was then Tartarus was struck again.

"AAAAHHHH!"

Tartarus' roar filled the chamber like thunder as a purple beam struck the side of his head. The Arbiter watched as the white haze that surrounded Tartarus suddenly lit up brightly before vanishing. His shield was down! Looks like John was right to strike him in the head after all.

"Troops! Fire on him!" the Arbiter shouted.

The Elites obeyed and joined the Arbiter as they fired a barrage of blasts and needler projectiles at the Brute chieftain. Again and again, he was hit. Small trickles of blood began to fall out of the wounds being opened on his body. It was getting more and more painful. He was being hit continuously!

Finally, one of the councillor Elites threw his energy sword at Tartarus. It struck his back. It did not penetrate the skin, but it did inflict a great deal of pain on Tartarus before falling to the floor. A small trail of blood now began to drip off his body, from all the other wounds, onto the floor.

That did it!

**"ENOUGH!"**

Before anyone could so much blink, Tartarus raised his hammer and brought it down onto the platform's surface with all his strength. The hit was so powerful that the platform shook enough for the Elites and even John on the pathway to be knocked off their feet. Mary lost her footing and if it had not been for Wally, who grabbed her arm as she fell over the edge of the platform, she would have died.

"Thanks, Wally," Mary said, relieved, as Wally helped her up onto the platform.

Back on the platform, Tartarus struck down again with his hammer, causing a large dent and few cracks to appear where the hammer hit. The strike this time sent the Elites flying against the barriers or the cube shaped objects, knocking most of them out. The councillor Elite, that threw the energy sword, was not as lucky. He flew through the air towards Tartarus. Tartarus grabbed the energy sword and, when the councillor Elite was a few feet away, swung it at his enemy. The Elite screamed as it was hit and was sent flying into a cube shaped object a few metres behind the Arbiter, dead. Tartarus threw the energy sword onto the floor near the dead councillor's body and walked towards the Arbiter. The white haze appeared over his skin again.

The Arbiter saw the approaching enemy and scrambled backwards as fast as he could, but no matter how fast he went, Tartarus seemed to catch up with him. He was finally stopped when he hit the side of a cube shaped object. Panic began to rise up through him. He even starting sweating. Tartarus laughed as he stood over him.

"I will enjoy killing you, Arbiter," he said. "However, I will say it has been an honour fighting you, Arbiter. You have been a worthy foe. If only the rest of your incompetent race was like you. They would have been more fun to kill. Oh well,"

Tartarus raised his Fist of Rukt. The Arbiter went wide eyed as he watched the weapon rise over him. In just a few seconds time, it was going to be crashing down onto him. He could imagine it now. The weapon penetrating his skin as if it were a wall of dust. His bones breaking and blood flowing from his lifeless body. It was horrible, and he was going to be seeing it very quickly.

"Arbiter!" one of the minor Elites shouted as he saw his leader about to be killed.

Tartarus laughed and looked over his shoulder.

"Your too late!" he shouted at the Elites. He then looked down at the Arbiter one last time and whispered two words.

"Goodbye, Arbiter!"

The Arbiter sat there frozen with fear. He could not move or even talk. He felt like he could not even breath. It was over for him. All the fighting against the Brutes had been for nothing, and all those who died fighting the Brutes had all died in vain.

Tartarus brought the hammer down.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Suddenly…

"_**AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"**_

The loudest roar the Elites had ever heard filled the chamber. At first, they thought it was the parasite, since when they approach they let out an enormous roar. Then, it became clear it was not the parasite. It was much closer and more familiar. Then, they realised it was Tartarus.

Tartarus clutched the side of his chest. Dark purple blood began to seep out through the gaps between his fingers. The Arbiter looked at his wounded enemy. It was then he faintly saw the line of a purple laser disappear. He looked left and saw John looking down at him. He nodded. He had saved his life!

Now was his chance. The Arbiter looked behind him and saw the body of the councillor lying just a few feet away from him. Near the body, closer to the Arbiter, was the energy sword. The Arbiter grabbed the energy sword and swung it into Tartarus' leg, causing blood to flow. Tartarus roared again and, finally doing what the Arbiter wanted him to do, dropped his Fist of Rukt and grabbed his injured leg to stop the blood from coming out.

The Arbiter grabbed the Fist of Rukt and swung it over his shoulder before swinging it with all his strength like a baseball bat at Tartarus. Tartarus gasped and went wide eyed, but before he could react or even breathe, which seemed to be completely drained from him seeing his best weapon being used against him…

WHAM! Tartarus was hit so hard by his own Fist of Rukt that he was sent flying through the air. He landed against one of the objects that went around the small circle in the middle of the platform. The Arbiter dropped the Fist of Rukt onto the floor and walked over to Tartarus. He was still alive but only just. The Arbiter stopped a few feet from Tartarus. The Brute looked up at the Elite.

"You beat me," he said, his voice slowly becoming a whisper. "You beat me! Tartarus. Chieftain of the Brutes!"

"You should not have followed the prophets, Tartarus," the Arbiter replied. "We could have stopped this entire civil war from breaking out,"

Tartarus laughed. He coughed a few times, bringing up a bit of blood.

"You are just as pathetic and disloyal as the rest of your race, Arbiter," Tartarus managed to say. "The prophets will remember me as a great warrior. The Great Journey will go on and it will begin on the Human world. It will be the end of both of your races,"

Tartarus laughed as his life slowly slipped away. The Arbiter grabbed Tartarus' chest and held him near his face.

"What are you talking about?" he snarled. "Answer me!"

Tartarus just continued to laugh. He will never understand the Great Journey! He was never even capable of defending what could start it!

Tartarus' body went stiff and coldness ran up the Arbiter's hand. He had stopped breathing. He was dead.

The Arbiter let go of Tartarus' body, making it thump loudly as it hit the platform floor.

"Alright, Mary, go!" the Arbiter heard John shout.

The Arbiter turned to see Wally place Mary down on the platform floor. She ran up to the light and grabbed the Index from it just as it started hovering up the light towards the hole in the ceiling. They had done it! They had stopped Delta Halo from firing. The universe was sav-

Suddenly, the room began to shake wildly. Mary glanced around in fear, holding the Index closer to her chest as if it would protect her. The Elites also glanced around in panic, as did the Arbiter.

"What is happening?" the zealot Elite shouted.

What was happening? Had the Index being taken out of the light suddenly caused a malfunction? If it had, what was going to happen? Was the room going to explode? Was the structure going to collapse? Or worse, was the ring going to suddenly explode?

The Elites ran over to the barriers and pressed themselves against them. John dived to the pathway floor and covered his head. Wally hovered over to Mary and pushed her and the Arbiter to the floor.

"Cover your heads!" he said to them.

"Wally, what's happening?" Mary asked him as he laid down beside her.

"The shot has absorbed enough of the Index's energy." Wally answered. "If the Index is not inside the shot when it fires, then the ring will go to the secondary option of firing on the amount of energy it has absorbed from the Index. We are too late!"

Mary and the Arbiter went wide eyed. They were too late! No! They could not be! It could not be true! All they had worked for! All they had fought for! All they had died for! All of it had been for nothing.

Outside, a large light blue/white ball shot out of the silo between the three beam rifle-like towers around the top of the sphere section of the structure. It flew into the sky and made an opening through the clouds as it soared effortlessly on into space.

Out in space, a large white ball was forming right in the middle of the ring. It was growing large, gaining in energy. The shot from the control centre flew towards the ball forming in space. They collided. If every race was seeing what was happening, they would definitely believe it was the end of all life in the galaxy.

A white light lit up space like the sun. It lasted a few seconds before it faded away. In just a handful of seconds, it was over. It was as if God had swept his hand and destroyed all life like in the ever predicted apocalypses by Humanity.

But there was nothing different. Nothing had been destroyed by _Delta Halo_. No life was gone. It had not fired at all. It had done something else. All life in the universe just continued on as if nothing had ever happened.

Inside the control room, Mary and the Arbiter slowly raised their heads from the floor. Mary looked aside her and saw that Wally was gone. The two got up from the floor. The Arbiter turned and walked over towards his comrades to see if they were alright.

Mary, however, was drawn to something else. Hovering in front of the light, in front of her, was a hologram of the structure. A small red light was blinking on an off inside the sphere of the structure.

Two footfalls to her right caught Mary's attention. It was Wally and John. Wally had gone to pick up John and place him down on the platform.

"What's that?" Mary asked Wally, pointing at the hologram.

"It's… a beacon," Wally answered as he moved in closer to register what it was.

"What's it doing?" Mary asked.

"It…" Wally began. He was as confused as she and John were. "It… appears to be… communicating,"

"Communicating with what?" Mary asked again.

Wally placed a hand on the hologram. At once, the image changed from the structure to seven ring-like objects. They were all coloured green, except for one which was coloured red. They set out in a line in front of the three. The ring that was red was the fourth in the line.

"The other installations," Wally answered as he watched the holograms line up in front of them.

"Show me," Mary said.

Wally placed another hand on the fifth ring. At once, an image of the ring's control centre appeared next to it. It was the same the as the control room they were in. The words Installation 05 appeared above the image of the ring. A host of information appeared next to the image of the control room.

Wally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank the Forerunners," he said. "The ring was not firing. It was fail-safe protocol."

"What is that?" John asked him.

"In the event of an unexpected shutdown, the entire system will move to standby status," Wally explained. "All the other systems are now ready for remote activation,"

"From here?" Mary asked.

"No," Wally answered.

"Then where would someone go to activate the other rings?" Mary asked Wally.

Wally stood there for a few moments. He laid out his knowledge of the ring and memories in his mind. Slowly, he was piecing together something. An answer was slowly coming together.

"This place may not exist," he finally said after a few seconds. "But it is usually done from a place my creators built called; the Ark. That is only if it exists though,"

The three heard heavy footfalls coming towards them. Mary and John looked over their shoulders to see the Arbiter walking towards them.

"And where, Oracle, is that?" he asked.

**Meanwhile, above Earth**

Earth. The third planet from the Sun and the home world of the Human race. And for over five hundred years since the first satellite and the first man in space, was thought to be the only planet capable of supporting life. That is until just over a year ago. If you would look down on Earth from space, it would be probably one of the best things to remember in your entire life. It made Earth look so beautiful and a peaceful place to live.

There was only one thing that was destroying this beauty and peace was the war between the Humans and the coalition of alien races, now short one member, known as the Covenant.

Ever since the first assault by the prophet of Regret's fifteen strong fleet just days ago, the fighting above, on the planets around and even on the surface of the Earth itself was brutal, and it got worse when the majority of the prophet of Truth's fleet arrived to finish the attack and destroy the UNSC resistance above the planet.

Above the planet, the UNSC orbital defence platform _Cairo_ was one of the last still in one piece. It was covered with marks from Covenant ships, large pieces of it had been smashed and the MAC cannon had been almost completely destroyed. Since Regret's carrier suddenly fled, it had been fighting non-stop, like most of the UNSC on and above Earth. The other nearby orbital defence platforms, which were known as the new nearest after the _Athens_ and the _Malta_ were destroyed during the first attack, called the _Tripoli_, the _Sahara_ and the _Hejaz_ were destroyed shortly after the first battle for New Mombassa ended. Even with support from UNSC ships, the _Cairo_ was still struggling to withstand the assault.

As the battle raged over the planet, a large white circle suddenly appeared in space several hundred thousand miles above Earth. Out of the circle came a large shape. It was a chrome coloured triangle/pyramid shaped ship with a tall spire sticking out of the top and an engine on the bottom of the main part of the ship. It was the Forerunner ship from _High Charity_.

_"We've got a new contact!"_ a voice from the UNSC battle cruiser Oakland reported as it was about to help engage two CCS battle cruisers.

_"It isn't one of ours,"_ came Hood's voice. _"Take it out!"_

Eve was still clinging onto the side of the floor that led down to the large white ball. She heard what the two were saying through her ear radio. She placed a finger on the ear radio.

"This is Eve," she said. "Can anyone hear me, over?" she asked, hoping for a yes.

**On board the bridge of the Cairo**

Hood was standing at one of the control panels on the top platform watching the battle unfold outside. He was thinking all hope was lost for Earth now. An entire Covenant fleet of over two hundred ships had been attacking the planet non-stop. He was really starting to think about trying to keep everyone alive rather than holding out and lose hundreds of people.

Suddenly, he heard Eve's voice over the bridge's communication array. He shot round, shocked to hear the voice. At first, he was happy and felt hope rise through him. Eve was back. Now they would have a chance.

Then, his hope changed to confusion when a nearby worker told him that Eve's message was coming from… the newly arrived Covenant ship?

"Isolate that signal," he ordered to a nearby worker.

The worker nodded and typed in a code on the control panel.

"There we go, sir," the worker said.

Hood walked over to the control panel and pressed a button next to the radio built into the control panel.

"Eve, do you mind telling me what the hell your doing on that ship?" he asked.

_"Sir,"_ came Eve's voice. _"I'm finishing this fight,"_


	20. Epilogue

**Location: High Charity**

High Charity. The Covenant holy city, or was the Covenant holy city. It was once the home world of the San 'Shyuum and the birthplace and headquarters of the Covenant. Seven alien races that formed the Covenant once called this planet their home in the war against Humanity. That is until it was attacked by an old enemy of both the Covenant and the Humans. The _Inferi Redivivus_, or as it was well known, the Flood.

The Flood managed to get to High Charity on the Human ship _Amber Clad _after capturing it whilst it was above the library on Delta Halo. They flew it into a tower and an army of Flood, along with the Gravemind, the leader of the Flood, escaped from the ship and used the pelicans aboard it to land all over the city. Within hours, the city had been overwhelmed and most of those that had been left behind were now either dead or made into one of the Flood to join their ever growing ranks.

Outside the council hall tower, the entrance to the building was broken. Half of the door was wide open but the other half was stuck about halfway from closing. The air around the tower was filled with Flood spores and all the lights in the city had either been destroyed or had shut down, making the city look like a ghost town.

Then, something big behind the door moved. It was long and was made up of flesh that had a green top. It was a tentacle. The tentacle moved out of the building and began to move about in the air as if it were searching for something. Another came out, followed by another, and another, and another. Soon, seven long tentacles were sticking out of the tower waving about in the air.

"**Silence fills the empty grave, now that I am gone" **a shuddering voice that would have bested the Devil's said.

It seemed to fill the air around the city. The large tentacles began to move down the pathway towards the platform at the end towards a pedestal, that was raised earlier on during the first few hours of the fighting in the city.

"**But my mind is not at rest," **the voice went on. **"There are questions that I have asked but have been left to linger on. But now I will ask, and **_**you **_**will answer."**

As the tentacles approached the pedestal, a small seven inch high avatar rose up out of the object. It was Auto. One of the tentacles went to touch him, but he held up a hand and the tentacle back off as if Auto had some kind of power. He replied with two words to Gravemind.

"Alright. Shoot,"


End file.
